Second Draft of Project 1.

“Although, there are millions of diets that can produce the same results, vegetarianism is ranked in the top 20 diets (Being a Vegetarian in College).” This year, I came into college trying to be a vegetarian to avoid the dreaded “freshman 15.” However, from the first day I walked into Florida State’s Suwannee Dining Hall, I realized that would not be an option for me. The dining hall, full of hamburgers, sandwiches, and other meat based dishes had very few options for vegetarian students. I was amazed at how someone with a meal plan could be vegetarian and not get sick of eating the same thing every day. So, I decided to research into this topic further. I started by interviewing a sophomore at FSU who has been a vegetarian for a little over two years now. After talking to her, I decided to look into what other schools were doing to help their vegetarian student population. I want Florida State to make changes for the hundreds of vegetarians, vegan, and Pescatarians students it has on its campus. So, I decided to figure out, what accommodations has FSU made for vegetarians and in what schools can they learn from to being a vegetarian in on campus easier?

Vegetarianism is one of the most popular diets among college students and is growing more and more every year. However, in order to understand why I believe FSU needs more options for vegetarians in the dining halls, it is important to understand what a vegetarian is. There are different branches of vegetarian diets that range from basic vegetarians, vegans, Pescatarians, flexitarians, and conscientious carnivores. Basic Vegetarians do not eat any meat products. Vegans do not eat any meat or foods that come from animals. Pescatarians give up all meat except fish. Flexitarians eat most meals as poultry and red meat free, but occasional take a day off. Conscientious carnivore believes it is okay to eat red meat or poultry only if those choices meet sustainable grazing standards (Karras). Florida State University is home to over 40,000 students from all over the country, with all different backgrounds. About 8% of college students consider themselves as vegetarians (Runkle). That statistic leads to the assumption that there are over 3,000 vegetarian students at FSU. With that many students eating similar diets, it is crucial for FSU to accommodate for them.

Florida State University has two main, traditional dining halls Suwanee and Seminole Café. However, they both have basically the same opinions every day and unfortunately, they are not very vegetarian friendly. However, there are many other schools that FSU can use as role models in the transition to becoming more vegetarian friendly. In the article “What’s a Veggie Student to Do” there is a list of the top 10 most vegetarian friendly colleges in American. On this list includes colleges like Indiana University, Yale University, and Humboldt University. SUNY Purchase, a school with only 4,000 students, has an all-vegetarian café on campus. If a school with only 4,000 students has accommodations like that, a school with over 40,000 should have the same if not better. New York University has weekly Vegetarian Nights and Monthly All-Vegan specials. Similar to SUNY, NYU has an all vegetarian restaurant, and there is supposed to be the best in the country. The University of Florida has a “vegan corner” in their dining hall that includes rotating options of vegan choices (Patel). Schools like these are working to make strides for vegetarian options in the dining hall and Florida State should do the same.

Different vegetarians decide to make this lifestyle choice for many different reasons. One vegetarian here at FSU, Meagan Johnson said she decided to because she “hated the industry in the United States. I went to Spain and when I ate the food there, especially the meat, I noticed it was just really fresh and when I came back I realized ours is mass produced and gross.” In Karras’s article she explains that "It's common for teens to stop eating meat because they find it distasteful (Karras)." However, people decide to become vegetarians for all kind of reasons. Once a person becomes a vegetarian, they shouldn’t have to alter their eating habits because their college dining halls aren’t good enough for them. FSU does not have adequate options for these vegetarians. Meagan is a sophomore and ate in the dining hall all year her freshman year. She said that when she would eat in Suwannee dining hall, she “feels like I(she) could have salad all the time but that’s really it. When I(she) used to go there they would always have burgers, chicken fingers, and stuff like that. I could always get fries and salad, but that gets old really fast.” It is unfair that vegetarian students are forced to eat the same unhealthy foods over and over again.

With college prices so high, vegetarian students have little extra spending money to buy foods that are outside of the dining hall. Meagan put it perfectly when she said, “Healthy food and vegetarian food, is more expensive. I feel like meat is cheaper because it’s in like everything and then foods without meat are more expensive. I don’t know if that even makes sense, but it feels like eating and being healthy is way more expensive. Right? Because whenever you go to Vale or a different healthy restaurant it’s like so much more expensive than when you go like Chick-Fil-A or something.” Also, the dorm rooms have extremely small spaces for mini fridges and not a lot of kitchen options for cooking. That makes grocery shopping extremely difficult.