Some students think variety has been slow to arrive on University dining menus – especially for vegetarians.
However, in the first few weeks, sophomore vegetarian Whitney Markus has seen the variety lacking.
‘Some days there are more choices for vegetarians than others,’ Markus said, ‘but it will vary from having three or four choices for vegetarians to only one.’
Markus, who has been a vegetarian for nearly five years now, usually does not have a big problem being a vegetarian on-campus. There are only a few days where she has to stick with the plain pizza for dinner, she said.
‘You’re always going to have pizza, subs and sometimes soup, but you want variety,’ she said. ‘You don’t want to eat the same thing every single day.’
Vegetarian wraps used to be a favorite of Markus’, however, she said most of the options for sandwiches and salads now in Outtakes, except for the caesar salad, include meat.
But this doesn’t stop her from going to her favorite place on campus: Salads by Design.
‘The Orchard [salad] is my favorite,’ she said. ‘They let you pick what you want in your salad, including meat or no meat.’
Michael Paulus, director of University Dining Services, said he is working on getting the menu items updated to include variety for students like Markus.
‘I’ve had the same menu items in the quick grab sections for eight days now and it really bugs me,’ he said. ‘Our menu list includes over 600 items.’
Brook Hellmann, a freshman, said she was expecting more variety from campus dining.
‘There aren’t many choices,’ she said. ‘And when there are choices it seems like they are not together. It’s not very convenient to grab a quick bite all the way across campus.’
One person who feels she isn’t really affected by the changes at the University is junior Tonia Kline.
‘I don’t really eat the sushi or the Mexican food,’ she said. ‘But I do feel like there is more variety and more healthier options, like salads.’
Kline said she eats at the Union all of the time and often chooses pasta.
‘But this year they don’t have alfredo sauce,’ she said. ‘That’s what I always used to eat.’
Starting soon, Chartwells at the University will offer more vegan and vegetarian options, as well as balanced menu options such as low sodium, Paulus said.
‘We truly believe in variety and choice,’ he said. ‘We just haven’t been able to get there yet.’
Chartwells is still planning on making more changes to University dining, but so far has not had the man-power.
‘When we started out on campus, we were only 40 percent staffed,’ Paulus said. ‘Students were complaining about the long lines. We have a lot of big plans, we just need more staff to do so.’
