by Sharael Feist
Ka Leo Staff Writer
1995
Some University of Hawaii students opt to live life without meat.
“I believe that the concept of vegetarianism is catching on,” said Hedy Hager, president of the Vegetarian Society at UH. “More indiViduals are incorporating the vegetarian diet into their lifestyle,” she said.
Hager said that more students might have an incentive to try a vegetarian diet if vegetarian meals were more readily available on campus.
“The campus vegetarian food is very limited,” Hager said. “The menu selection is nutritionally lacking. Marriott has a monopoly. They have no incentive to serve the students. They just want to make money.”
Hager’s biggest complaint is that Marriott uses too much cheese in their vegetarian meals.
There are different types of vegetarians:
- Ovo-vegetarians eat eggs
- Lacto-vegetarians eat dairy products
- Vegans eat no animal byproducts at all
“A lot of people have a misconception of what vegetarianism is,” Hager said. “We eat a lot more than just carrots and lettuce.”
Despite Hager’s complaints, Marriott Food Services does offer daily vegetarian meals at the cafeteria, snack bars and Manoa Garden.
“We try to provide what the students want, but it is very difficult to satisfy everyone,” said Ralph Nakamoto, Marriott Foods general manager. He said they are required to provide one hot vegetarian meal per day, but it is not required to be a vegan meal. He said he agrees that the meals do have a lot of cheese.
“It would be-less expensive for us to use less cheese, but when we do, people complain. We are stuck between a rock and a hard spot,” Nakamoto said. Nakamoto added that the new Hamilton Library snack bar will have a section dedicated solely to vegetarians. It will provide both hot and cold entrees.
Nakamoto encourages students and faculty to give their favorite vegetarian recipes to Marriott to be tested. He said that if the recipes use common ingredients and taste good, they may be added to the menu within a couple of weeks.
“We try to make the meals affordable to the students,” Nakamoto said. “Just because something tastes good doesn’t mean that the price is right.”
UH vegetarian Alison Mendiola said, “I think that the vegetarian population is growing on campus. Marriott seems to be making a conscious effort to improve the meals. But a lot of times there are no vegan meals. And they think that since there is literally no meat in the meal, then it is vegetarian.”
Mendiola said Marriott needs to take into consideration all aspects of the preparation of a vegetarian meal. For example, she said that most soups are made with beef or chicken stock, and most refried beans have lard. She said that these things are not compatible with a vegetarian diet.
Another UH vegetarian, Merav Asulin, said, “There’s a lot of room to improve the campus vegetarian meals. A lot of things they say are vegetarian aren’t. A lot of people seem to be more aware of the environment, and vegetarianism has a lot to do with that,” she said. “As a collective effort, we do make a difference by choosing a vegetarian lifestyle.”
Nakamoto said the Marriott management is educated about the ingredients of the meals, and if students have any questions about the ingredients of a meal, they can be provided with that information.
For those students who would like to give vegetarianism a try, there are various outlets that can make the transition a little easier.