When junior Dina Graves first came to Duke in 2005, she found very little in the Marketplace suitable for a vegan diet.
"I was starving, and what I was eating was just terrible," she said.
Three years later, Graves is a fuller and happier student. She cites a helpful Duke Dining Services, the new Marketplace caterer Chartwells and student organizations for vegetarians and vegans for making Duke a more welcoming place for vegans.
Reasons for vegetarianism and veganism among students vary widely including religious and cultural traditions as well as health, ethical and environmental concerns.
Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst said he considers it an obligation to provide healthy options to all students and that he tries to work with students with special dietary needs.
Freshmen can have the mandatory freshman meal plan converted to food points if Marketplace options are inadequate for their diet, he said, adding that at most six students choose this option per year.
Graves went to Wulforst during her freshman year and did just that. She was then able to use her food points at the Durham Food Co-op, an organic grocery located not far off East Campus on West Chapel Hill Street.
Wulforst said although he tries to take people at their word, he steps in if he sees this accommodation being abused, adding that he has had to do this in the past.
"If I look at where [students] are spending their food points and see a lot of McDonald's, Subway and Chick-fil-A, we're going to have to have a conversation," he said.
Although Dining Services "tries" and is "a lot better than some other universities" sophomore Swathi Padmanabhan, who is a vegetarian, said special events such as barbecues hosted by the University and student groups generally offer very little for vegetarians to enjoy.
"They might have veggie burgers, but have you had one? They're not that good," she said. "A lot of people consider a salad or chips 'vegetarian food' but that doesn't do it."
Padmanabhan also said at many of these events the veggie burgers are cooked on the same grill as the beef patties making it inedible for a strict vegetarian diet.
As far as on-campus dining locations go, Padmanabhan gives the Refectory at the Divinity School good marks for providing variety for vegetarians. Graves said Saladelia is good at marking their vegan-friendly food.
Members of Plan V, Duke's vegetarian club of mainly vegetarians and vegans, share a meal together once a week. The club also educates students in maintaining a healthy, varied meatless diet and often teaches the clueless how to prepare their own meals, said Graves, the group's president.
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