Peta2 kicked off its annual “Vegetarian-Friendly Colleges” competition this month, and AU is once again among the top 32 universities across the country vying for the title spot.
This is the fourth year that peta2 — the youth-focused subsidiary of the animal rights organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — has held the contest. Last year, AU won the competition, outranking 46 other nominees with dishes from vegan Korean barbecue to spicy seitan in miso broth with noodles, according to peta2.
In addition to those dishes, the Terrace Dining Room offers a full salad bar, at least one vegetarian pizza choice and a meatless Fire Wok option every day. These can be paired with any of the rotating features such as General Tso’s seitan, vegan macaroni and cheese or curried vegetables with rice.
AU’s rival in this first round of competition is Georgetown University. Georgetown ranked 10th out of 46 schools last year, according to peta2. The organization highlighted Georgetown’s barbecued veggie-riblet sandwiches, Asian sesame lo mein and vegan tacos.
Winners are determined through voting. Anyone is eligible to vote for any school.
Laura Lee, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she has been a vegetarian for the past two years.
“It’s pretty easy,” Lee said. “There’s a lot of vegetarian options [at AU].”
Lee also said the food options changed each day, allowing for variety in the vegetarian choices available at TDR.
Despite her overall satisfaction with AU’s vegetarian dining choices, she said she did not vote in the contest last year and refused to vote this year.
“I didn’t vote because I thought the competition was silly,” Lee said. “The people who are voting have the most familiarity with their own school and don’t really have a basis for comparison.”
She also said the fact that voting is open to anyone — not just vegetarians or vegans — could skew the results.
“It doesn’t really mean anything to be the most vegetarian-friendly campus [by peta2],” Lee said.
Ryan Huling, senior college campaign coordinator for peta2, said there are many students out there who would disagree.
“As shown by AU’s victory last year, there is a tremendous amount of students out there who benefit from the school’s vegetarian-friendly options,” Huling said. “The contest really aims to highlight the efforts of schools who have gone above and beyond to meet the needs of students seeking vegan and vegetarian meal choices.”
Though School of International Service sophomore Meredith Lukow is not a pure vegetarian, she said she strives to lower her meat consumption in order to be “more eco-friendly.”
“It’s relatively easy for me to eat vegetarian food in TDR, although I do eat a ton of pasta to make that happen,” Lukow said.
If AU makes it to the final round of the competition, there is a possibility that it will face off with other schools, like the University of California, Santa Cruz, that could offer stiff competition with options like Boca burgers and assorted vegetarian pizza options.
Sacha Whedon, a sophomore in UCSC’s Kresge School, said that of the three dining halls on campus, the one she frequents — College 9/10 — has a lot of meatless options.
“[Both vegetarians and vegans] can eat here pretty comfortably,” Whedon said.
Whedon said the school also sold Vegan-friendly baked goods including cookies, muffins and cakes.
Students who think TDR serves up better vegetarian-friendly fare can vote for AU online at www.peta2.com until Nov. 2. Peta2 will announce a nationwide winner Nov. 23.
You can reach this staff writer at sparnass@theeagleonline.com.
