By Christiana Rutkowski
As a vegan, an area of concern for many individuals is whether or not vegan options will be available in certain settings. Specific settings that are of great importance to many are the dining halls and cafeterias on college campuses across the USA. As a collegiate student-athlete myself, making sure I can find vegan foods on my campus at Seton Hall University is a priority for me. Luckily, finding vegan options in Seton Hall’s dining hall was easier than I thought it would be.
In Seton Hall’s dining hall, there are different stations located throughout the entire area. These stations include a “wok” station to prepare stir-fry dishes, a pasta station, a burrito/quesadilla section, a sandwich station, a vegetable station, a breakfast bar, a soup station, a salad bar, and more. At these stations, students are able to prepare their own dishes at areas that include pans and a spatula. Food is available to the students to mix and match and cook to their liking. I will be talking about these stations only because the prepared food you may find in the cafeteria is almost never vegan-friendly except for at the “vegan” station specifically.
At the many different stations, options that are vegan include: plain pasta (lightly coated in a bit of olive oil to keep from sticking), plain white and brown rice (I have asked personally if they include anything on the rice, the answer is no), raw vegetables (waiting to be cooked by the students), tofu, beans, salsa, bagels (these bagels are taken from our campus’ Dunkin Donuts, I know the plain bagels are vegan from the ingredients listed for them), peanut butter, jelly, dried fruit, oats (just plain, cooked in water), raisins, bread and wraps (they leave out the packaging for these items, so you are able to check the ingredients yourself, and they are always vegan), olive oil, tomato sauce (also vegan, as I have asked which kinds it is and they contain no animal products), dry cereals (the brand and ingredients are always listed next to them), soy and almond milk, bananas, apples, and other various fruits they put out.
Alongside all of these vegan options are also “sides” that are offered next to prepared food stations. One of the sides I opt for when in the dining hall are the plain baked white potatoes or plain baked sweet potatoes. Again, I have asked numerous times if they make these with butter and the answer is always “no.” These are a great option to pair with meals or to have as a meal itself.
The vegan option available changes each day, but no matter what day it is, there are always plenty of ways to prepare a vegan dish with the various options offered. While it may take some looking around and getting creative, vegan food will always be available to the individual at Seton Hall.
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