This semester, a series of changes in campus dining have considerably reduced the choices for vegetarians and vegans. The vegan café, which once was open for lunch and dinner all week has been reduced to serving only lunch. At Mocon, attempts have been made to properly label food for the benefit of not only vegans and vegetarians but also those who have other dietary and health restrictions. This project, undertaken by C.L.A.W. (Compassionate Living and Animal Awareness at Wesleyan) and Mocon, has shown the limited choices offered to vegetarians and especially vegans. And Summerfield’s, though offering a vegan and a lacto-vegetarian choice, has yet to change the entrées offered.
The choice to be vegan or vegetarian is often the result of an ethical, religious, or health-based choice and the nutritional requirements facing them require a variety of nutritional sources (proteins, iron, calcium, etc.). Having only very limited and repeated options at campus dining locations threatens the health of many students.
There is a sizeable number of vegetarians and vegans on campus. Dining services has, by eliminating dinner at the vegan café and already offering limited choices at Mocon and Summerfield’s, severely underrepresented a sizeable minority of the student body.
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