I have been a pescatarian for almost my entire life. Since birth, I spit out any chicken or meat products my parents tried to feed me unless they came straight from the sea. Being at Northeastern has tested that lifelong diet. Although the school year tends to start strong, the options at the vegetarian section, known as the Mezze Table, at International Village (IV) dining hall quickly begin to feel stale as they are cycled through.
First things first, IV consistently provides options for vegans and vegetarians. Besides the Mezze Table, there are vegetarian burgers, a salad station, cheese (and occasionally vegan) pizza and sushi, though the sushi occasionally contains fish. Depending on the day, you can also build your own dish at Asian Kitchen, although sometimes they only cook omelets.
The downfall of these selections is that they are nothing more than consistent. They’re always the same. I want to eat something new, not rotate between the same three meals every day. Thus, at IV, I’m typically trapped at the Mezze Table.
To make matters worse, unlike IV, Stetson East — the other dining location on campus — does not offer guaranteed veggie options besides a salad bar (trust me, no one wants to eat salad every day). When you’re living on a meal plan, relying on just one place for something exciting to eat is frustrating.
To get a true sense of the variety, I tracked what I ate from the Mezze Table at IV for the week and compared how the options stacked up elsewhere. Were there pescatarian choices at any other stations?
Monday:
On Monday, the Mezze Table claimed, both on the sign and the Dine On Campus app, that they were serving vegetable chorizo, which intrigued me. Unfortunately, when I walked up to get some, they were serving meatless chicken nuggets.
I don’t know why there were nuggets, but I know it was not what I was promised. The nuggets were so chicken-like that I heard some complaints from people around me who weren’t sure whether it was vegan or not.
Beyond the Mezze Table, there was fish at the Spice Table! This was a nice surprise for me. The Delicious Without stand supposedly had a veggie bowl, but the bowl’s protein … was chicken.
Tuesday:
Aside from the usual options, there were no additional offerings on Tuesday. The Mezze Table served vegetable meatballs, and if you were not a fan of that, you could eat a salad. The meatballs were fine and came with a sauce.
Wednesday:
Like Tuesday, outside of the Mezze Table, there were no new vegetarian options. Falafel was the selection offered at the Mezze Table, however, which I counted as a win.
Intriguingly, pork roast was on the menu Wednesday. Though I wasn’t going to eat it, this was a big deal, because I have come to notice that the main protein of choice at IV is chicken. Maybe protein options can be fairly limiting, even for the carnivores on campus.
Thursday:
There was focaccia on Thursday. I have never once seen Northeastern serve focaccia (which was topped with mushrooms and greens), but I beg them to do it again. Please. The Mezze Table offered Thai tofu with rice, which was pretty tasty, but there weren’t any other stray vegetarian options.
Friday:
I will be completely honest. I’m still not entirely sure what the Mezze Table was serving on Friday. The sign advertised meatless chicken tenders, but when I got there, it was potatoes and … something made from beans and chickpeas? I ate it, but I couldn’t tell you what was in it beyond that.
This marked the second day this week that the sign listing the food options had been misleading.
Saturday:
The Spice Table had pollock today — oh, wait. No, the sign read pollock, but it was really shrimp. I don’t know if they had ran out of pollock, but shrimp was a disappointing replacement.
The Mezze Table served “Beyond, Tomato and Bean Chili” with pasta. This is new, because dishes are typically served with rice, not pasta, at the Mezze Table, but you can always get either on the side.
Sunday:
The Mezze Table served Thai tofu again on Sunday, which marks our first repeat of the week! United Kitchen offered Moroccan lamb, which I can’t say I have ever seen at Northeastern before, so that was an interesting new protein choice.
With Sunday complete, my week in Mezze Table purgatory has come to an end. For the most part, the dishes were fine (minus Friday’s mysterious meal, which I am still confused by), but this week reminded me that you have to get creative in the dining hall. Whether it’s building your own Chipotle bowl with options from the Latin Kitchen or adding toppings and tofu from the Asian Kitchen to a soup, anything helps to expand your choices at IV.
A big takeaway from this week was that the signage and the Dine On Campus app did not always match what was actually being served. This is something to watch out for, especially if you’re gluten-free or have other dietary restrictions. Always double-check that you’re being served what is advertised.
Northeastern’s dining halls provide options for vegans and vegetarians, but it can be difficult to find something new when you’re relegated to the same table every day. Try to search for other options if you hate the one being offered, and remember, in dark times, there are always dining dollars to spend.