By Pascale Marchand
You are the kind of person who goes hungry at a hamburger and hot dog barbecue. Or the kind who will take the pasta salad hostage. You are a vegetarian.
Whether you are a strict vegetarian or a semi-vegetarian, you are still picky about eating animals. And you are not alone at Ryerson. Th university’s director of ancillary services John Corallo says there is greater demand for vegetarian meals at school.
When the newly renovated HUB cafeteria in Jorgensen hall re-opens, it will include a wider selection of vegetarian friendly food.
New outlets including Tim Hortons, Pita Pit and Pan Geos will offer a greater variety of meat-free meals.
Until the hub re-opens, vegetarians can turn to the ILLC and Pitman Hall cafeterias.
Pitman Hall has not renovated like the HUB, but the menu is brand new this year.
“We’ve started from scratch,” says cafeteria manager Ryan lloyd-Craig. “Only popular items are back.”
Pitman Hall also switched from a five-week food rotation to a six-week food rotation, meaning that what students eat this week will not be on the menu until the beginning of November.
The ILLC has even made a menu change to suit vegans, who will not eat any animal product.
Last year if students ordered a noodle dish from the vegetarian menu, they would be served egg noodles. Starting this fall, the ILLC will be serving vegetable lo mein and the vegetarian udon noodle-soup, both made with rice based udon noodles.
“There is a lot of need and a lot of request for vegetarian meals, and the food services have to satisfy those needs,” said Yong Seto, manager for the conference and food services at the ILLC.
“Of anyone you know, at least one has to be a vegetarian,” he said.
“Social functions now have to have a vegetarian option. Before people just had to eat what they were offered. And I would say all restaurants now feature vegetarian selections.”
If you feel like sharing a great vegetarian recipe with the rest of the Ryerson student body, the cafeteria managers encourage you to do so. Students living outside of residence wishing to share recipes can can bring them in to Seto, Lloyd-Craig or Corallo.
“A girl had brought in a student’s vegetarian cookbook last year,” Corallo said. “She had cooked for students on her floor in residence and they had really liked some of her recipes.”
As long as recipes are not “too confusing,” said Corallo, the food services could most likely accommodate them.
Students living in residence can join their floor council as a food representative to add input. Monthly meetings providing feedback to the food services are held by housing manager Liza Nassim.
If you wish o cook vegetarian for yourself instead of eating at Ryerson, student savvy cookbooks such as the Student’s Vegetarian cookbook Revised, by Carole Raymond are a good idea. This book promises “quick, easy, cheap and tasty vegetarian recipes,” like “spontaneous couscous, pasta with green beans and feta cheese and post-modern chocolate pudding.”
If you want to know more about vegetarianism, be sure to check out the 19th annual Vegetarian Food Fair held at the York quay Centre, from September 12 to the 14. Admission is free.
Leave a Reply