Next fall, more vegan and vegetarian food choices may be available in the University’s dining halls, in addition to the normal fall fare.

Representatives from Speak Out for Species, a campus animal rights advocacy group, met with Food Services officials Thursday to speak about their concerns regarding vegan options in dining halls.

“I had a hard time finding exciting vegetarian options to try in my freshman and sophomore years,” Suzie Fatkin, a graduate student from Warner Robins and SOS co-president, said in an e-mail interview. “My meals became very starchy and monotonous.”

Fatkin said this lack of choice spurred her to petition for increased vegetarian and vegan options in the dining halls.

She said vegetarians do not eat meat, and vegans choose to abstain from all animal products.

“More vegan options is something both omnivores and vegetarians can enjoy and benefit from,” Fatkin said.

Fatkin said she was pleased J. Michael Floyd, executive director of Food Services, agreed to meet with SOS.

“Although he seemed a little hesitant to change, Mr. Floyd was open to new recipes,” she said. “Speak Out for Species has another meeting planned with Food Services in April, where we will work with him to make changes to the fall menu.”

Floyd said no existing foods would be removed from the menu to make room for these new choices.

“We look at vegetarian and vegan choices as another food option for our students,” he said. “What we see is most of our students will sample

something on the vegetarian line one day and the next they’ll get a hamburger.”

Floyd and Pat Brussack, a dietary specialist for Food Services, said Food Services is taking enormous strides to make food choices healthier, be they vegan or otherwise.

In fact, Peta2, the youth affiliate of the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, nominated University Food Services for its 2008 Most Vegetarian-Friendly Colleges competition.

“We don’t promote things that are cheap and bad for you,” Brussack said. “We don’t make it any easier to get a hotdog and French fries so they don’t eat apples, oranges and bananas.”

Fatkin said SOS wants the University to take further steps to make dining halls vegan- and vegetarian-friendly, following the footsteps of the University of California-Berkeley, which she said serves about 250 such meals.

“We also suggested that Food Services add a vegan advisory board consisting of students and dining services staff who discuss and taste-test new veg foods,” she said.

Eric Griffith, a librarian at the Main Library and a faculty member of SOS, said the group is appreciative of the steps Food Services has taken to provide and label vegan and vegetarian foods.

“However, we believe that improvements could be made in the variety and creativity of vegan foods, and also in the accuracy of labeling,” he said in an e-mail interview,

Floyd said vegan choices are labeled with gold diamond shapes and vegetarian fare gets a green leaf label. These food labels can be found in the dining halls, on the foyer menu and online.

He said each dining commons has at least one vegetarian soup, chocolate and plain soy milk, pasta and sauces, a salad bar and a vegetarian line featuring an entrée, a steamed vegetable, brown rice and bean of the day.

In addition, the grill lines at Oglethorpe and Snelling Dining Commons have specific vegetarian lines that no meat is allowed to touch. All dining halls use special utensils denoted for use in vegetarian and vegan foods.

Floyd said one issue with serving more vegan foods involves obtaining a supplier.

“If the consumers see it at the grocery store, they wonder, ‘why don’t they carry it in the dining halls,’” he said, adding Food Services and grocery stores are two different food markets entirely.

Many of these products, even if Food Services could buy them, are individually packaged — something Floyd said would complicate their work for sustainability.

Brussack said she has been trying to work with suppliers who offer more vegan foods, but she said many companies will cut less-profitable products, some of which cater to vegetarian and vegan consumers.

When this happens, Brussack said, replacements have to be found, such as substituting soy-based products with tofu-based products and vice versa.

“We were serving vegan breakfast sausage, and we’re still serving a vegetarian breakfast sausage, but we can’t get the vegan anymore,” she said.

Floyd said students should see dining options as food education, whether they choose to eat steak, steamed vegetables or both.

“Our commitment is not a social stand,” he said. “We’re not indicating one food is better for you than another.”

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