Interview Transcription.

February 6, 2018

Sondra: Why did you decide to become a vegetarian?

Meagan: Okay, so basically, I 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. That’s basically it, that’s the short version I could talk about it for an hour.

Sondra: Do you feel like FSU’s dining hall has good options for you as a vegetarian?

Meagan: I mean not really to be honest. I feel like I could have salad all the time but that’s really it. When I 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.

Sondra: Do you feel like FSU has made any advancements for vegetarians over the time that you have been here?

Meagan: Yes! I haven’t personally been there, but my roommate who is also a vegetarian went to the restaurants under Azalea and said they had some good stuff. She said the Italian restaurant had good vegetarian pizza and pastas, and the Chinese one had good vegetarian bowls. But, I am pretty sure that is not included in the meal plan so it would probably be expensive for a vegetarian living on campus to eat in there every day. I usually just buy my own food because I am running on a budget.

Sondra: Do you feel like you are spending a lot of extra money because you couldn’t always eat in the dining hall or didn’t necessarily want to because it was so repetitive?

Meagan: I feel like I was spending a lot more money for sure because I didn’t really feel like eating salads all the time in the dining hall. Also, because I couldn’t really buy and keep groceries in that crazy small mini fridge they gave us. 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.

Sondra: Do you feel like you have met a lot of other vegetarians who feel the same ways as you?

Meagan: Um, my roommates a vegetarian. And I know Jen (her roommate) eats the same way as me. She buys her own food a lot and we go to our sorority house (where they have meals for them) only if the main meal can accommodate us, which doesn’t happen a lot hahaha.

Sondra: Do you know of any clubs at FSU who are pushing for more options for vegetarians?

Meagan: I don’t think so, but I’m going to check it out and maybe even start one!

Sondra: What do some of your normal meals consist of?

Meagan: Oh gosh. I eat a lot of eggs, I sometimes eat an omelet in the morning or I make toast and like avocado and avocado toast. I eat a lot of pasta, which probably isn’t the best for me, but it’s cheap and I can make it really fast. When I go to the house I usually just eat salads or something with tofu in it. I also order food a lot. I order the Jimmy John’s veggie sandwich- which is like salad, lettuce, avocado, cheese. I don’t know I feel like I don’t have a very wide plate only because I can’t really afford it.

Sondra: Would you recommend to someone coming into the college for the first time to become a vegetarian or would you say it is too difficult to start here?

Meagan: I definitely think Freshman year is way too difficult. I wouldn’t want to do that. Only because you do have such limited options and if you don’t have a car you can’t drive anywhere. So, you have to go to Subway or Suwannee everyday which is the same thing every day. I feel like it would be too hard because everyone around you is always eating meat. I can’t even count the number of hamburgers my roommates who weren’t vegetarians would eat last year. Even now for me, I can have my own groceries because I live in apartment, but freshman year I did not have my own groceries, I could not do that with that mini fridge. So, I feel like it would just be too hard to go from zero to one-hundred that fast and that dramatic.

Sondra: What is your biggest struggle of being a vegetarian?

Meagan: HMM that’s a hard one. Probably that I can’t eat chicken and I love chicken. The biggest struggle oh gosh. I don’t know I feel like I can find something, at least at one place. But, if it is fast food or something, it's always super unhealthy like I am either eating like fries or a milkshake. I remember last year my friends and I would go to Chick-Fil-A and they’d get grilled chicken sandwiches and I would have to get just fries and a milkshake.