Eat Your Vegetables!

 Vegans and vegetarians get new healthy options on campusby Jamelia Lowman.Everyone gripes about the food on campus, but nobody complains as loud and often as the vegetarians.Andreana Occes, a vegetarian for more than five years, prefers to eat off campus. Despite some recent upgrades in what's offered at CCNY, she says the food is limited, and what's served doesn't look good. “I have seen some changes,” says Occes, 23. “But I have to be honest. I do not pay much attention to it because I rarely eat at the food court."But now vegetarians like Occes can celebrate. In response to requests for more healthy fare in our campus dining venues, Metropolitan Food Service has added new and unique healthy choice items and vegan/vegetarian meals and salads.Food officials began paying serious attention to student needs last year after the cafeteria received a low grade from the New York City Health Department. “I started the corporate food service advisory committee last May to allow students, staff and faculty to join us and talk about their food preferences,” says Kenneth Waldhof, executive director of Auxiliary Enterprise Corporation and chair of the committee. "Likes and dislikes and healthy foods constantly come up.”So what's new for vegetarians and vegans? Bold Vegan Chile, Vegetarian Tofu Cacciatore, Crispy Fried Tofu, Ratatouille, Greek Lasagna and Smoked eggplant.“Each day one of these dishes will be offered in the food court,” says Waldhof, “the ‘V symbol’ on the glass indicates that the food in the tray behind that sign is the vegetarian/vegan entrée of the day.” To keep things pure, servers use different colored utensils for the vegan/vegetarian options to assure that their food won’t be dipped in any meat sauce.Waldhof adds that although the different dining locations have added more healthy foods, not many students see the changes. Rajiv Wallace, a pescaterian (fish only) for seven years, says he was not aware of the healthier food choices. “I also have not paid much attention to the healthy initiatives that were put in place,” said the 20-year-old. “However this new menu sounds great and would make me want to buy from the cafeteria now because honestly I don’t.”For more information about the weekly menu, students can check the NAC food court or go to the CCNY dining website.  You can make your voice heard at Diningcomments@ccny.cuny.edu.