Students discuss the challenges of adopting a meat-free lifestyle
By Lucille Rollins
My first and last experiment with vegetarianism was a disaster: It was in ninth grade and lasted one week.
Maybe my motivation was rooted in the wrong reasons (yes, someone dared me). Maybe red meat in the form of a $24 New York Steak and cheap KFC chicken just taste too good to give up for ... ever.
A chunk of meatball spelled the doom of my attempt. A friend invited me over for dinner and she wasn't informed of my newly acquired lifestyle so her family made spaghetti and meatballs.
I started with plain, white noodles, a teaspoon of melted butter and a dash of salt. My friend's sympathetic "wow, that looks sparse" comment was the last straw.
The smell of fresh tomato sauce with 95 percent lean hamburger balls simmering in the pan caused my mouth to water.
"Pile on the sauce," I told her and held up my plate.
Living a veggie life
According to a nation-wide survey done by Harris Interactive Poll in 2003, 2.8 percent of the population in the United States, or more than 15 million people, lived a vegetarian lifestyle. Kirk Mustain, general manager for Bon Appétit at UP, says the exact statistics for this small population at the University are unknown.
"It's a small crowd but it's very vocal," he said. " And people tend to be vegan or vegetarian for health issues rather than obligations (like religion)."
Although my short-lived affair with vegetarianism was because of a bet, it is not always a lifestyle jump started from want of money (in my case) or personal taste.
It is a statement. What we eat has become who we are.
"Smells like meat"
While waiting for junior vegetarian Malori Maloney to heat up her lunch, I decided The Cove smells like meat: fried chicken strips, chicken quesadillas and hamburgers with onions.
"My meals aren't really that exciting," she said as she sat down and took a sip of Tazo tea. On her dull white plate was Spanikoptia, a Greek dish made with spinach, rice and feta cheese.
I couldn't help but think that her food matched her plate in its simplicity.
Maloney first stopped eating red meat ten years ago.
"Then I slowly phased out other meats like turkey until I was only eating fish," she said.
But she stopped eating even fish after taking Environmental Science with biology professor Steve Kolmes.
"I realized I don't know where any of this is really coming from," she said.
Maloney lives off campus and rarely visits The Cove or The Commons, the latter of which she hasn't been into for about a year.
Mustain acknowledged that The Commons only does an adequate job at catering to the vegetarian population, even though 30 of the 70 dishes they serve in a given week are considered vegetarian.
"I get a bunch of guys in the back who always eat meat, so they're idea of vegetarian is pasta," he said.
Maloney suggests Bon Appétit offer a wider variety of sandwich and veggie choices and protein alternatives. Bon Appétit attempts to fill the last request by cooking more tempe and tofu.
Freshman James Cote, another fellow failed vegetarian, gave The Commons a better review.
"While the quality of the food isn't gourmet," he said, "they do a good job of identifying what is meat and not, and they usually have a vegetarian option every night." He also added that "there's always the salad bar."
Mustain said that despite the fixed menu for the time of day, he encourages students to not be passive about their needs.
"You need to be an advocate for yourself," he said. "My staff will make anything you want if you need something special."
Enlightened eating
Cote lasted one year when he attempted a no-meat lifestyle four years ago. He gave meat up after reading literature concerning the meat industry in America.
"It was a bad process," he said. "It is still a bad process. The amount of waste that is produced, both of land and meat, is detrimental to the environment. Specifically, cattle ranches are horrible."
So even if he's officially carnivorous again, Cote still believes that there are problems with the meat industry and limited policies regarding animal rights.
"I make sure to buy meat that's organic, that doesn't have a lot of pesticides or antibiotics," he said. When he purchases chicken he buys it free-ranged
Maloney and Mustain both agreed with Cote's general views.
"The amount of meat we produce in this country is pretty ridiculous, especially in comparison to other countries," Maloney said, while taking a bite of her Greek vegetarian delicacy. "It uses up a lot of resources." When she walks into a store, she does the best that she can to buy organic.
Mustain, whose family's menu isn't centered on protein, asserts that the number of vegetarians will rise.
"As we become more aware, we're going to change eating habits and purchasing decisions," he said. The questions regarding mad cow disease, individuals' carbon footprints and what livestock does to the environment in terms of their CO2 output, according to Mustain, will start to shape the way we look at our food.
Both Cote and Maloney come from families that place importance on what they eat. Cote's entire family lives a vegetarian lifestyle, as does Maloney's mom.
"My grandma always wants to feed us meat," Maloney said, adding that it happens most at big family dinners. "I don't know if she forgets or just thinks it's a phase."
Recently, she offered Maloney a meat dish and when Maloney replied that she and her mom were vegetarians, her grandma replied, "Oh, you're that family."
Maloney's plate was finally empty across the table and I had a fleeting urge to eat a bacon cheeseburger, heavy on the bacon. But on a full stomach, we discussed shopping: shopping vegetarian-style, a process that has become "automatic" for Maloney.
"Maybe if you were just trying to start it'd be hard," she said. "It's more difficult to shop at generic grocery stores and find pre-packaged food that's vegetarian."
Overall, though, the conversion isn't difficult, Maloney said.
"It's pretty easy," she said. "I just feel like in the last few years, I've known an increasing amount of people that consider becoming vegetarian or become vegetarian."
