By Cierra Peterlin, University of Maryland Dietetic Intern

As a dietetic intern, I have spent the past 10 months rotating through different job settings with organizations from hospitals to food pantries to universities and more. Sometimes the work is something that sparks joy and sometimes it is simply a professional experience. My week with The Vegetarian Resource Group was definitely the former! I have been living a vegan lifestyle for the past 2 years for pretty much all of the reasons there are: the environment, the animals, and human health and food security, so I was very excited when I learned that I would have the opportunity to spend a week of my internship with VRG.

When I first got placed in my dietetic internship at University of Maryland I was invited to attend the previous class’ virtual class day with VRG. I hadn’t previously known anything about The Vegetarian Resource Group, so as an interested and eager future intern, I attended. From that first exposure I could tell that VRG was something amazing and wanted to learn more. I spent time after that browsing the site and looking at the many articles and resources. Throughout my dietetic internship I had been referencing vrg.org for my own use as well as referencing certain articles for projects and recommending them to people I interact with who are interested in vegetarian nutrition.

Getting the chance to rotate with VRG, even for the quick week that I did was great. My main point of contact was Dr. Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, who was ever so supportive and helpful during my internship. Before my rotation started, Reed and Charles Stahler sent me a list of projects and asked me to create a schedule for the week that I would be with them. Right off the bat, I knew it was going to be a good week because the projects aligned so perfectly with my interests: not only was the week going to be all about vegetarianism, but the projects I was going to be working on were also focused on food waste and the environment, another passion of mine! Since I am based in Maryland and Reed in California we set up a schedule that worked for both of us to keep my projects moving so that I could successfully complete them within the week.

I learned a lot during my quick week with VRG and got to develop and exercise my writing and research skills. For my scientific review for a research article about food waste, I learned how to focus my writing for the general public. By the use of plain language, making study data relevant and reader-friendly, and with support and guidance from Reed, I was able to convey the findings of a study in more understandable terms. My other project was to write a blog about how to reduce food waste and create some daily menus for low waste vegan meals. In writing this blog it was the first time I had written something specifically geared toward vegans and vegetarians, which was really cool for me to do! One challenge that I faced was figuring out how to conceptualize data on the large amount of food waste created in the United States. Again, with help from my preceptor, Reed, we were able to translate large numbers into a relevant and understandable context. When creating the menus for this blog, I was thrilled to be able to make them completely vegan. In my previous experience with creating meal plans and recipes I had had to consider dairy, eggs, meat, and seafood. This project allowed me to create menus and recipes that are in line with my values as well as in support of greater environmental and human health.

Throughout this experience I was urged to think deeply about how I could hone my writing to reach a broad audience. By questioning how I would phrase things if I was speaking to a friend or family member who wasn’t as knowledgeable in nutrition and research and who didn’t spend their free time reading up on nutrition and environmental research (like me, ha ha), I was able to convey a clear and coherent message that was accessible to the general public. As a future dietitian I feel that it’s so important to be able to bring researched-based information and education to everyone and this exploration and consideration of my own writing really helped to give me a better sense of how to most effectively do just that.

I am very grateful for the week that I had with The Vegetarian Resource Group. The VRG team was welcoming and supportive throughout the brief internship and made it known that warmth would extend beyond my week rotation. The work of VRG is truly inspirational and impactful. Even as someone who has been vegan for a while and has a degree in nutrition, I learned so much in just one week with VRG. I hope to continue working to promote a vegan and vegetarian lifestyle as a future professional and hope that my work with and connection to The Vegetarian Resource Group isn’t over!

For information about VRG internships, see: https://www.vrg.org/student/index.php

To support VRG internships, donate at www.vrg.org/donate