Vegan Practically

My workplace, Western University in London Ontario, has been in the news of late for some positive initiatives to increase the plant-based options on campus. You may remember that way back in May I got invited to the Forward Food Chef Training session at Western. It was a two-day training session for chefs at a number of universities in Southwestern Ontario, hosted locally by Western. The focus was on plant-based meals, with the goal of incorporating them as a more sustainable option for campus dining. I’m not a chef. I was invited as a lunch guest, mainly because after 31 years working at Western, the Food Services folks know that I am always seeking vegan options (and I will complain when they are lacking). It was the single most delicious campus event I have attended in three decades.

The media attention started up again in December when Western featured prominently in some news stories about plant-based eating at Canadian Universities. Earlier, in September, the student newspaper, The Gazette, had reported that 43% of the meals served in residence dining halls were vegan. This number is in line with the public commitment Western made to hit 40% in 2024 and 50% by 2025.

A further good-news story came yesterday when it was announced that an Odd Burger outlet is about to open on campus in the main student food hub. Odd Burger is a vegan fast-food restaurant that operates on a franchise model and has become hugely successful. They self-describe as follows: “Odd Burger Corporation is a plant-based food technology company that manufactures and distributes industry-leading plant-based protein and dairy alternatives using locally sourced and sustainable ingredients.”

Odd Burger started in 2014 as a fresh-food market style shop with food deliveries and meal kit delivery. They evolved in 2016 when they set up a burger stand at London, Ontario’s Ribfest (a summer festival that focuses on eating dead pigs) to sell their now-famous burger that mimics a Big Mac (to me it is exactly like a Big Mac, but I haven’t had an actual Big Mac in about 35 years, so maybe not). Ultimately they set up a restaurant downtown, and then a second location with the first-ever 24-hour vegan drive-thru. That didn’t have enough traffic at the time, but they have now have settled into a successful London location and at least ten other outlets across Canada (mostly in Ontario). It’s exciting that they are going to open on campus and I wish them well in gaining a loyal campus following.

The initiatives at Western are driven by student demand. Last month I blogged about the lively campaign for plant-based cafeterias in the UK, also student-driven. It’s wonderful to see that Western is making an effort to evolve with the times in response to students’ expressed wishes. Though I realize that by no means all young people are committed to vegan eating, there is a larger percentage of vegans among younger demographics who are all-too aware that the planet is under threat and that our food choices make a difference.

The view from the other side of our campus community — faculty and staff — looks quite different. I routinely attend events where there is nowhere near 40% vegan food, and often getting vegan options is a painful process of having to ask and be singled out, forgo protein in meals, and go in with fingers crossed that someone will have remembered to order something just for you (or wait while others eat and they throw something quickly together for you). I myself was consulting the campus catering menu for an event I am hosting this week, and it wasn’t all that easy to come up with vegan options appropriate for a mid-afternoon nibble. There’s not nothing. But nor is there 40%. I was looking for snacks, and there are two vegan options. I also thought something sweet besides fruit would be nice. Cookies? Loaf? For that: zero vegan options. So I think there is work still to be done on that front.

This is not to say that the caterers will not sit down with you to figure out special catering for an event if you ask them. I have in the past had them cater an entire conference as vegan with a few vegetarian options. I also requested that the reception in my honour when I came to the end of a seven-year admin role in 2022 be catered with only vegan foods. Both turned out beautifully. But when I am a guest at someone else’s reception rather than organizing it myself, it’s a different story. And here is where I would like also to see us aiming for 40% this year, 50% in 2025. Not just in the student dining halls but across campus.

In short, these new developments are great news. But we’re not quite there yet. I would love to see us taking further steps. For example, it would be great to follow the University of Cambridge, to stop putting any ruminant-based food on the menus (i.e. cow and sheep products). Instead, the latest “finger food” I noticed at the Christmas receptions that I attended were (I kid you not) lamb chops or something like that, bone still in to give you something handy to hold onto. Sigh. We still have some distance to go.