<p>I was wondering how to go about assessing the adequacy of the food service for vegetarian students - other than eating at each campus my daughter is interested in! I have found a top 10 list on a PETA webpage, but does anyone have advice for assessing college dining options more broadly?</p>
<p>Maybe contact each college about their vegetarian options?</p>
<p>another way is to look for organic groceries/vegetarian restaurants in the surrounding area which might be an indication of the demand of neighborhood.
My daughters school in southeast Portland for example- was very veggie friendly- lots of ethnic vegan dishes- not just a salad bar.</p>
<p>How about emailing or calling the Residential LIfe/Dining adminsitrator (from website contact info) to ask what is their program for meeting the needs of vegetarian students? If the response is, "there's always plenty of salad on the cafeteria line" (where my S-2 attends) that's a long way from, "we have l0 student-run, student-managed food co-operative houses and 2 of them are vegetarian/vegan.." (where my D attended). That's a way to get a range just through written correspondence.</p>
<p>Eventually I'm sure they'll be sending out little food packet samplers for all applicants, if the trend towards attracting applicants continues the way it's going. Better than a mailing out a hoodie...;)</p>
<p>Thanks, paying, good advice. And your remark about the hoodie reminds me that I have to look at the DVD that we just received from a college out east.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Many schools put their dining hall menus on their websites. I'm fairly sure mine puts it up and marks which options are vegetarian/vegan. </p></li>
<li><p>During tours, ask guides. They might not always have much info, but you might luck into someone who can give you a detailed, firsthand account.</p></li>
<li><p>Many campuses have some sort of non-dining hall eatery...a coffeehouse, sandwich shop, or whatever. You can meander in and check out the offerings without having to buy or eat anything. It isn't the dining hall, and won't be a perfect reflection, but it may still give you a rough idea of what students like to eat + whether vegetarianism is particularly common on campus. My school had a coffee shop filled up with posters and signs advertising all of its organic & free-trade products, baskets full of vegan cookies, etc....good indications of campus climate.</p></li>
<li><p>As for eating on campus, part of why it can be a pain is that the "meal included" tours are often shorter than regular tours (and seeing the dining hall isn't always worth getting shortchanged elsewhere). It might be possible to get dining hall vouchers even without taking a "meal included" tour, though, so always ask in admissions if you'll be around near a mealtime. If your schedule allows, it can never hurt.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I'm a vegetarian, so I go on the college websites and look under their dining options. Most of them give the daily menus for all of the dining halls and they mark which dishes are vegetarian and vegan. </p>
<p>Speaking of sending out food samples, two weeks ago, I got a huge chocolate chip cookie in the mail from Ashland University because they apparently have the best cookies in the country.. They send them out to like 20,000 potential students each year. I have no desire to go there, but the cookie was REALLY tasty :)</p>
<p>Do a google on rank college vegetarianism. Second page over you'll find a good link.</p>
<p>Being a vegetarian is so common at colleges nowadays I don't think it should be a concern at all. Unless the student is a vegan or a very picky vegetarian, there will be food choices at every meal. As far as priorities go, I'm guessing it's pretty far down on the list. Actually, when I did the college visits with my kids we made a point of eating on campus - what better way to see what's offered?</p>
<p>I think the best way is to either visit and try the dining halls of the colleges in question or ask students at those colleges who are vegetarians and who have actually eaten in the dining halls - perhaps by posting on CC for that college (if that college is active on CC). </p>
<p>If you check with the college dining services they'll no doubt say they have vegetarian options. That doesn't mean your D would like them though. My (UCSD) D's a vegetarian and although her college had vegetarian options, my D generally didn't like them because she found too many things drenched in butter/oil (noodles), veg items that looked unappealing as if it had been left out too long, etc. This really limited what she could/was willing to eat on-campus.</p>
<p>I think you need first-hand info and skip what college websites or even rankings say unless the ranking was determined by students eating the food as opposed to what the items were on the menu.</p>
<p>It really depends on how picky of a vegetarian you are, too. My school's options are good, but it's lot of simple foods and some tofu in the more creative dishes. We don't get things like eggplant except occasionally - which is cool with me, but might be annoying for others.</p>
<p>SO, If she's someone who'd rather have a pre-existing large variety rather than be creative and make do (which can get old) that's definitely something to take into account. If she's the first, you might want to find a school with a large population of vegetarians (and other hippie-type people :) ), if she's the second she'll be fine anywhere.</p>
<p>Wherever she ends up, she might be a good candidate for having access to her own microwave and refrigerator, whether in her room by rental (some colleges allow this if they have new dorms with proper wiring), or down the hall in a student-shared kitchenette. Some dining halls also have a toaster or microwave on-hand. </p>
<p>Then look up a paperback called "Tray Gourmet" written by 2 Yale graduates. Another CC poster suggested it to me! The book describes how to go down a cafeteria line, pick up cold ingredients and re-arrange/re-cook them in a microwave. Pages of recipes follow. As an example, by taking cold cheddar cheese chunks, some crackers, and raw tomatoes from a salad bar, you can go and turn these into nachos (sort of).</p>
<p>Some of the tedium of being a vegetarian is that everyone expects you to eat cold food, which gets tiresome. I sent my S back to his college with this book. I think he's eating the book but it did quell his only complaint about his new college! He's not a vegetarian, nor is Tray Gourmet, but I liked their approach.</p>
<p>web sites can tell you what is "available" but not how good those options are -- many schools will list a vegetarian/vegan option because there is a demand, but the quality of that option can vary widely.</p>
<p>go to a school's club page and see if there is a vegetarian/vegan club listed with contact for a student -- they will probably give you the fairest assessment -- eg, "the food is great," "its tofu all the time", "we're working on a vegan co-op since the dining hall food stinks", etc. or while you are there, have your d not only try the food, but ask others how typical that days food is and about the variety. other vegetarian students are your best source of info on this.</p>
<p>Maybe it's my West Coast perspective, but with a huge number of kids in every college who call themselves vegetarians, and with "eating lower on the food chain to reduce your carbon footprint" also trendy among college students, I really think this is a non-issue. Every college I know of has vegetarian options--and the vegetarian food is the same quality as the rest of the food, meaning that most of it is mediocre. (Vegan may be harder to come by.)</p>
<p>(At Reed College, there is a Carnivore's Club, but no vegetarian club. There is a food-coop dorm group, though.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Maybe it's my West Coast perspective...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>As a kid who spends a fair bit of time in California, the midwest, and parts of the south, I can (regrettably!) confirm that. There are veggie options all over the country, but on the west coast, we tend to take them for granted in a way that the rest of the country teases us for :)</p>
<p>There won't be any college in the country at which the kid simply can't eat, but quality, quantity, and variety will vary a fair bit. Particularly attentive schools may also use different grills/pans/etc. for veggie food vs. meat dishes, which is a big concern for some people (and a non-issue for others). </p>
<p>You'll find enough veggie-friendly campuses that this probably doesn't need to be a tip-top priority, but it certainly makes sense to check out. Never any harm in asking!</p>
<p>p3t</p>
<p>I love the sound of Tray Gourmet. I'm going to look for it. The food at my son's college is good, but I'm sure it can get monotonous.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks everyone for your help. I just joined this website yesterday, and am delighted to have found this.</p>
<p>"I think the best way is to either visit and try the dining halls of the colleges in question or ask students at those colleges who are vegetarians and who have actually eaten in the dining halls"</p>
<p>The best way to find out informal info on the campus is in the dining hall. We found in most you could purchase a meal if you were visiting. The greater benefit was sitting and talking to students. All were friendly and willing to talk. What a great opener to ask about vegan. You can then go on to other subjects. We found almost all willing to talk about the school.</p>
<p>I gree with visiting the dining menu online in the student services section. If they dont post a dinning menu they are not proud of what they serve. On the other hand I read a dinning menu of a major minnesota LAC top tier and all and vegan options were oatmeal for breakfast, pizza stick with ketchup for lunch and sticky rice for dinner and it was everyday of the week for months on end. I sent a note to the school because i thought it was a possiblity that some student was playing a prank and broke into the web site.
Checking the neighborhood stores is telling. If it is a student community and students lean to vegan vegetarian the grocery store will be food coop's, health food stores, whole foods trader joes and etc in the neighborhood. The DD & I were visting a college in the middle of nowhere and i was surprised we found a vegan potluck off campus on openhouse day that 50 to 60 people attended, we talked with local farmers that believed in organic local and vegan long before it became a trend. And they had a truly reasonable priced organic grocery coop in town.</p>