I’ve been a vegetarian for almost a year now. Although I expected the omission of meat and fish from my diet to be a struggle, after the first couple of weeks I never gave them a second thought. While I cannot refute the palatability of animal products, I never feel like I’ve ever had to compromise on taste or nutrition without them in my diet. I’ve found vegetarianism a really interesting experience, having developed my cooking skills significantly and expanded my tastes throughout the past year.
Even if you don’t want to exclude meat from your diet, I thoroughly recommend cutting down on the amount you eat for a financial benefit. Depending on how you eat, being a vegetarian at university is really helpful when sticking to a budget and can save you a lot of money each week. As I never really tend to eat meat substitutes and tend to bulk up meals with vegetables instead, my weekly shop is usually around £10. My diet is also much healthier than when I ate meat because it is quite difficult to find instant vegetarian food. Although there are several options available, these tend to be quite expensive and nowhere nice as making food for yourself from scratch.
(Image credit: Larry Tuett/Veganusofa.com)
Obviously being a vegetarian can clearly limit your choices, especially whilst eating out. As I don’t eat the majority of dairy products, I usually have to look for vegan options when going out for dinner, which can be quite frustrating. Websites such as Happy Cow and Vegan Bristol are incredibly useful to me when I’m eating out as they give several options of restaurants and café that serve vegetarian food and the areas of Bristol where these places are located. Bristol is a wonderful city to live in as a vegetarian or vegan as there’s such a wide variety of cafes and restaurants that specialise in these kinds of foods. Even the majority of chain restaurants have delicious vegan options, my personal favourite being Pizza’s Express’ offering of a cheese free artichoke and mushroom pizza.
I’ve found the reception to vegetarianism at university quite varied. Although quite a lot of my friends also don’t eat meat, a surprising majority of people are quite critical of cutting it out. Whether it is the incredulity at my refusal to eat a bacon sandwich on a hangover or the insistence that plants feel pain too, there are a lot of people who are outspoken against vegetarianism, often more strongly than I am about not eating animal products.
(Image credit: civiwise)
Being a vegetarian at university is much easier than I anticipated. Despite missing the seemingly endless supply of avocados that home life has to offer, I have always managed to make really enjoyable food on a student budget. Despite the difficulties that sometimes arise when eating out, if you plan where you eat properly there is no reason why you should have to compromise just because of your dietary requirements.