How to Eat Vegetarian or Vegan on Campus

This time last year, after a full semester of living next door to two friends who were vegan, I had learned a lot about the meat industry, the dairy industry, and how what we eat affects our environment.  I never imagined myself giving up meat, but last March, I did. It changed my whole life. 

This year, on my meatless anniversary, I vowed to take my journey a step further and go vegan, which is very exciting for me.  After only a short time being vegan, I know it can be super hard to live on campus and eat a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. Luckily for you, whether you are vegan, vegetarian, or just looking for new food idea’s from the diner, I have already checked it out for you.

There is always something to get at Sprouts at North Campus Diner.  They have many types of imitation meat like soy chicken, hot dogs, and beef.  They also have black bean and quinoa patties!  Everything there is vegan so you don’t have to double-check any ingredients!  They also have vegan cheese so you can add that to your sandwich or have a vegan grilled-cheese!

There are other options at North Campus besides Sprouts.  You can specify that you are vegetarian at the pasta bar to ensure there is no cross contamination, as well as getting a veggie wrap in the sandwich line.  During breakfast, vegetarians have the option for breakfast sandwiches, omelets, scrambled eggs, or oatmeal.  For vegans, the main options are oatmeal, fruit, and bagels. 

South Campus Diner has a stir-fry line in the very back; there is an option to use a vegan/vegetarian-cooking surface to make sure that there is no contamination! South Campus has plenty of different veggies to add to your stir-fry and they have tofu as an option instead of meat! There is also a build your own stir-fry line in the North Campus Diner – all you do is pick your favorite veggies from the salad bar and they steam them right up for you. 

The convenience stores offer plenty of meatless options such as canned soups and frozen dinners.  They also have pasta and tomato sauce if you really don’t want to eat at the Diner that day.  If you don’t drink milk, both North and South Campus Diners have rice milk. The convenience stores have some of the non-dairy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and all the campus Starbucks have soy milk!

Eating on campus can get boring sometimes, especially when you are even more limited without meat, but the North and South Campus Diners are very accommodating.  Try to switch up your meals as much as you can so you don’t get bored, and eat the weekly specials whenever you can.  My favorite is the veggie sushi on Tuesdays!

• Diner
• food
• UMD
• vegan
• vegetarian