As of Feb. 19, there are new vegan options available around campus, a change facilitated by the Interfaith Ambassadors. These options include a hummus on spinach herb wrap and a grilled vegetable and hummus wrap.
West Bloomfield senior and Interfaith Ambassador Em Schiffer said the organization is “a safe space where people of multiple cultural beliefs or religions or heritages can come together to talk about our experiences and how we want to engage with that on campus.”
Through the discussions these students had during their meetings, Schiffer said organization members realized that there were not enough vegan options on campus for other students with dietary restrictions.
Commerce junior and Interfaith Ambassador Caroline Lippitt, who doesn’t eat red-meat, said the organization collected data to have concrete evidence of the problem at hand. Members went to Baldwin and every location on campus where grab-and-go options were available and took note of how many of them were vegan or vegetarian.
“That’s how we were able to know for sure that there was a problem that should be addressed,” Lippitt said.
After members collected the data, Schiffer said they brought their concerns to Metz staff. With the help of Assistant Director of Spiritual Wellness and Facilitator of Interfaith Ambassadors Laura Todd, Schiffer said the organization contacted Metz Dining.
“We went up the ladder to try to get more reach and expand our horizon, and reach out to someone who had the power to change it,” Schiffer said.
Director of Nutrition and Health Promotion Ashley Palmer said after she was alerted to the students’ concerns, she arranged meetings with Metz management to discuss ways to make vegan and vegetarian students feel more recognized on campus.
Palmer said Metz managers were “receptive” to the idea of adding more vegan options and worked with the students who brought ideas for the changes they wanted.
“Giving that feedback is a great way for us to improve our services to match what the students want,” Palmer said.
Todd said the process was relatively easy, with the only issue being that many students have been unaware of the options available, leading to them being ignored and pulled back.
“When they have tried offering vegan options in the past, people don’t take them,” Todd said.
However, Palmer said the Metz team was willing to make things work, so they began to implement new vegan grab-and-go options.
“They’re like, ‘Yeah, we can do this, that’s super easy,’” Palmer said.
The Interfaith Ambassadors requested for the new options to be high in protein, Todd said. According to Schiffer, most of the options she could eat prior to the change were only side salads, which were not giving her the protein she needed.
“It’s really just a side salad, so we were like, let’s find something a little more nutritious than just this,’” Schiffer said.
Palmer said she listened to the organization’s requests and found ways to implement a wider variety of options.
“We have hummus and sprouts and beans and all this stuff, so it’s an additional way for them to get their proteins that they need,” Palmer said.
Lippitt said that these differences in dining needs should not impact her or any other students eating vegan for religious purposes or otherwise.
“Even though we’re a minority in school, we’re still here and should be able to have a comfortable dining experience,” Lippitt said.
Now that more vegan options have been introduced, Todd said she finds it important to publicize them so the students who require these accommodations can locate them with ease and feel more represented in the community.
“Many religions have different ethical frameworks or guidelines about food, so having vegan options is important,” Todd said.
According to the ingredients list on the grilled vegetables and hummus wrap, it contains milk, which is not vegan. Saginaw junior and Interfaith Ambassador Tuesday McBride said they notified Todd yesterday. According to an email sent today by Todd, the wraps do not contain milk products, “the labels were just inaccurate” and are being reprinted so they are “accurate for future batches.”
Palmer said she encourages students to reach out to any Metz employees with issues they may have with dining options. One way to do this is through a dietary survey sent out by Metz.
“When students fill that out, that’s super important for us to bring in improvements, so that’s a really good resource for students to advocate for what they want,” Palmer said.
Editor’s Note – 12:19 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28: Additional information about the mislabeled wraps was included for accuracy.
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