Do you ever feel like it’s a constant struggle to find something healthy yet filling in the dining hall? I feel your pain. I’m neither a vegan nor a vegetarian, but I have plenty of dietary restraints (I’m lactose intolerant and can’t eat fried food) and constantly find myself struggling to figure out what to eat. Food allergies aside, there are two diets that some BC students feel have not been paid adequate attention by BC Dining Services.
Vegan and vegetarian lifestyles are very common amongst BC students. However, with these lifestyles come new obstacles that students have to overcome at least three times a day in the dining halls. Whether you’ve been a vegan or vegetarian for many years or you have just decided to change your eating habits, there are options for you, you just have to know how to seek them out.
The BC dining halls post vegetarian options on their online menu in green. However, even though something is vegetarian doesn’t mean that someone who is vegan or even lactose intolerant can eat it. Vegetarians eat mostly a plant-based diet that can include dairy products; however, some vegetarians will eat fish. Vegans, on the other hand, don’t eat anything that comes from an animal, including eggs and all dairy products.
Aside from the salad bar, the various dining halls around campus offer students a variety of different options. For example, at Hillside there is a Mediterranean hummus sandwich and a vegetable panini. At Lower and Mac, there are vegetarian burritos, quesadillas, tacos, and a Mexican plate that all feature vegetables and your choice of beans or rice. Addie’s has tofu salads, black beans and rice, veggie burgers (my personal favorite), and several flatbread pizzas.
Other campus-wide options include vegetarian burgers on the grill, vegetarian soups and chili, a variety of vegan-macro dinners in the Grab’N’Go fridges (the wheat-free vegan sushi is awesome), soy milk, vegetarian plates and salads, like the Mediterranean plate with hummus, tabouleh, pita, and olives. And of course, there’s always the ever-faithful, salad bar.
Sometimes the menu can get repetitive since the dining hall options for both vegetarian and vegan diets are fairly limited. Sheila Tucker, a nutritionist at BC, suggests using the online menus to see what else is being offered instead of getting in the same food line each night. She also suggests being creative, “for example, brown rice might be on the menu in one serving line and it can be combined with vegetables and beans from the salad bar. Or get a whole-wheat pita and stuff it with items from the salad bar. Get some whole-wheat pasta or brown rice and top it with the chickpea masala from the vegan-macro offerings. You could even make your own stuffed baked potato.”
Along with the concern of “what am I going to eat tonight,” there are other dietary concerns that vegans and vegetarians (or anyone who is on a limited diet) need to be made aware of. According to Tucker, “it’s very possible to have a healthy vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, but it takes some conscientious planning to start. Vitamin B12 is only in animal foods, so vegans need to take a supplement or include a fortified source in the diet (such as breakfast cereal with B12 fortification). Calcium and vitamin D intake can be diminished in a vegan diet since they are not consuming cow’s milk dairy products. Look for soy, rice, or hemp milk that is fortified with calcium and vitamin D; not all brands are. And iron is another mineral of concern. Beans, peas, and lentils are iron sources, but plant iron is less well-absorbed than iron from an animal source. Having a vitamin C source at the same meal as the iron source will improve iron absorption. Examples include having tomato sauce with a bean dish or a glass of orange juice with a meal.”
Living a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle isn’t too difficult as long as you have the necessary resources available. Students with nutritional concerns are always welcome to make an appointment with Sheila Tucker to discuss any issues they may be encountering. Students who have culinary comments can also use the new “Survey on the Spot” that is available on the home page of the BC dining website. The Associate Directors read these comments and respond to what students are saying.
Sure, the menu at the dining hall may seem to have a few less options for vegans and vegetarians, but once you start getting creative and putting a new spin on things, you’ll be able to build a whole new culinary menu. Just think of the dining hall as your own personal kitchen.
Read more about vegan and vegetarian lifestyles here on the Dining site: http://www.bc.edu/offices/dining/nutrition/topics/vegetarian.html