As the population of vegans grows in the United States, Boston University Dining Services officials say they are updating their offerings to cater to students’ changing needs.
But College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Alia Ghabra said she has experienced health problems related to poor nutrition because she has difficulty eating a balanced vegan meal at school. Ghabra, who has written letters and talked to dining hall managers, said she has seen little change in the vegan options provided on most days.
Ghabra said she is not getting the supplements she needs, and ‘there is just not enough protein provided’ for vegans.
However, Director of Dining Services Joshua Hubbard said BU has adapted to students’ changing diets in the last year by making the vegetarian stations into ‘produce markets.’
Hubbard said the market-style dining option allows for more flexibility because each station constantly changes. Students can also bring food from one station to another to create a complete and balanced meal, Hubbard added.
‘One of the things that we really work to do is make each station as interactive as possible,’ he said.
CAS sophomore Bill Budington, a vegan, said beans and tofu two major sources of protein for many vegans are not provided on certain days or are generally low quality when they are available.
Budington said dining halls could easily adapt to vegans’ needs and make more foods without using animal products. For example, he said pasta does not usually require animal products, but the dining halls serve pasta made with eggs.
‘We’ve asked them to change it many times,’ Budington said.
BU should take steps similar to those at other colleges such as New York University, which has an all-vegan night at specific dining halls, and the University of Massachusetts and Berklee School of Music, which both have vegan-only housing, Budington said.
Budington said another problem concerns cross contamination of meat products and vegan products, as he has seen the same people handling meat and vegan products a number of times.
Ghabra said one major problem with the dining halls is in the entrées because the vegan meals are often ‘disgusting.’
‘Sometimes for lunch the vegan entrée is rice and for dinner is couscous,’ she said. ‘There is no variety.’
But Hubbard said vegan entrées change everyday and lunch and dinner options differ as well.
‘We’ve had vegan items for quite awhile,’ Hubbard said. ‘We offer grilled vegetable lasagna instead of just a bowl of steamed vegetables.’
Ghabra said she sometimes has trouble finding any vegan entrées. During the recent ‘Tastes of the NFL’ visiting chef’s series, Ghabra said no vegan meal was available for her.
However, Hubbard said a vegan lasagna was served, topped with a vegan cheese product used ‘to simulate non-vegan foods.’
According to Ghabra, finding high quality replacements for meat products, such as deli meats and cheeses, in vegan meals is very easy and relatively cheap. Ghabra said she has been served non-vegan items on a number of occasions because dining hall employees were unaware of what they were serving.
Marketing Director of Dining Services Michael Gilligan said dining hall employees should be able to tell students what ingredients are in the foods.
‘Traditionally, we do not label those foods,’ he said. ‘We rely on employees to let customers know exactly what is in the dish.’
Gilligan said part of problem in the past has been a lack of communication between vegans and dining hall employees, adding that students can ask employees to customize their dishes.
The dining hall works very hard to meet the needs of vegan students, Hubbard said.
He said it has always been an important goal of dining hall employees to prevent cross contamination of meat products with vegan foods.
But Hubbard said it is hard to cater solely to any one group because tastes at BU vary widely.
‘Part of the challenge is that the vegan population, though growing, is not a huge population,’ Hubbard said. ‘The dining hall needs to attract a number of people and be versatile to all of these needs.’
Hubbard encouraged students to make their voices heard through comment cards available at all dining halls. Emails, phone calls and letters are also ways to address possible problems, he added.