Amid criticism, Duke Dining expands vegetarian and vegan fare

As students express mixed feelings about the state of vegetarian and vegan options on campus, administrators work to continue improving the dietary options for Duke students.

Venues around campus have used the month of October to launch Meatless Mondays—a celebration of National Vegetarian Month aimed to highlight the meat-free dishes around campus. The celebration takes place in Penn Pavilion, Marketplace, Café Edens, Divinity Café, Twinnies and McDonalds. Some students, however, remain dissatisfied with the options offered to meet their dietary needs.

“[Vegetarian options] could definitely be improved, especially at Marketplace, because we only have one line that’s dedicated for us, and at times the lines for other items that are vegetarian are too long,” said freshman Dhara Patel, noting that the vegetatian station at Marketplace, Earth's Fare, often has long lines and unappealing options.

Duke is dedicated to accommodating students’ dietary needs, said Director of Dining Services Robert Coffey.

“Vegan and vegetarian choices are always a main topic when planning menus and is one of Duke Dining's main priorities,” he said.

Toni Apadula, a dietitian clinician for Duke Nutrition Services, explained that Meatless Mondays and similar events aim to educate students who are looking for more vegetarian or vegan options or interested in occasionally trying a plant-based diet.

“Student Health dietitians see many students each semester who are either new to vegetarian eating and want to make sure they are eating well or may want to try a vegan diet and are looking for advice or simply want to learn about vegetarian options in campus cafes,” she said.

In addition to Meatless Mondays, Coffey said, vegetarians will also see increased dining options with the opening of the new West Union building—which will include a venue dedicated to vegetarian, vegan and raw food. The venue will have its own kitchen to prevent contamination with other foods.

However, this will not address the concerns of many vegetarian students with the first-year dining plan. Freshman Smriti Rathi, a vegetarian, said that compared to the variety of tasty vegetarian food offered on West Campus, East Campus desperately needs improvement.

“There are more vegetarian options in Marketplace than I expected, but most of it doesn’t taste too good,” she said.

Despite some dissatisfaction from the student community, Apadula noted that Duke Dining has already seen progress compared to previous years.

“Over the past several years, I have seen a greater move toward not only more consistent vegetarian and vegan options, but more creative dishes being offered,” she said.

Discussion

Share and discuss “Amid criticism, Duke Dining expands vegetarian and vegan fare” on social media.