By Erin Miller

Editor in chief

To the casual observer of line two at the Knollcrest Dining Hall, the vegetarian bar looks like a pretty happening place.

Students line up to take their pick from entrees as varied as tofu pitas with grapes to eggplant to rice and beans. The entrees are even labeled, unlike the entrees at the main line, distinguishing regular vegetarian fare from vegan dishes.

And vegetarians living on campus and eating in the dining hall breathe a sigh of relief.

It wasn't always like that, though. Just last year, a limited number of vegetarian entrees were offered on the main line, along with vegetarian stir fry at lunch and vegetarian sauces offered with pasta at dinner.

The new bar, which debuted earlier this fall, is the product of a committee of students who approached dining hall management last spring, requesting more and varied vegetarian entrees in the dining halls to serve the growing population of students who choose not to eat meat.

``It was one aspect of the Reconsider Campaign,'' said senior Nate Bosch, one of the students on the committee. ``We sat down with food service over the course of the semester. They were really excited about it and interested in what we had to say.''

For dining hall management, offering more vegetarian entrees is another way that Calvin has managed to stay ahead of national changes.

``It's a trend around the country, serving just a vegetarian bar,'' Knollcrest Dining Manager Ed Hass said. ``We want to do what's right for the students. If that's including a few more vegetarian entrees, it's pretty easy to do.''

Perhaps trendier is the inclusion of at least one vegan dish to the vegetarian bar each meal. Vegans not only choose not to eat meat, but also decline any food with animal byproduct in it, including dairy or egg.

So, while a meal of pasta with meatless sauce would fulfill the requirements for a vegetarian meal, the egg in the pasta would prevent a vegan from eating the same dish.

In order to improve the quality of the vegetarian dishes served, Steve Welch, a chef with experience in cooking vegetarian and vegan meals, was hired. Welch came with a list of vegetarian recipes, and, when the recipes students suggested were added, came up with a two-week rotation of vegetarian items now being served.

One of the difficulties with a vegetarian or vegan diet is getting enough protein each day. That problem, said Amara Pattison, Knollcrest Dining Service Manager, can be combated with a bit of ingenuity.

``I think that vegetarians have to realize, they are going to have very limited options, but also, if they are creative, they can get good food,'' Pattison, who is a vegetarian herself, said. ``We do offer a good deal of vegetarian selection, and I find that it's very easy to meet my nutritional needs.''

Pattison suggests several ways vegetarian and vegan students can enhance their diet while eating in the dining hall. Baked potatoes can be complemented with toppings from the salad bar, creating a more balanced meal that just a potato. Also, beans and rice can be added to vegetarian soups for more protein.

For students still not finding the balance a healthy diet requires, and for vegans who would like more to drink than water, juice or soda, both dining halls now offers soy, rice and almond milk as an alternative to milk.

An unexpected hit has been the tofu dishes.

``Stir-fry with tofu [is] very popular, [and we offer] tofu burgers, tofu pitas and tofu fajitas,'' Welch said.

However, not everything went smoothly with the launch of the bar.

``I really like it a lot,'' freshman Christina Anker said, but ``sometimes things are a little sketchy - things they claim are vegan [aren't always].''

In particular, Anker once noticed a vegan entrée with cheese, a dairy product which vegans do not eat. Pattison said that while those mistakes happened at the beginning of the semester, they should not be regular occurrences, as most of the cooking staff has now adjusted to the concept of vegetarian and vegan cooking.

``I think that when we first got started, we had to educate cooks so they had a better understanding of what being a vegan entailed,'' Pattison said. ``They've doubled their vegetarian cooking, so they know more what being vegetarian means.''

Both Hass and Pattison said that the majority of the feedback about the vegetarian bar has been positive. When students made suggestions, including offering the bar on Saturdays as well as weekdays and labeling the items specifically as vegetarian or vegan, those suggestions were taken seriously. The dining hall is also open to suggestions of new recipes to try, but students should realize that not all vegetarian specialties are possible at the dining hall level.

``Some things aren't available in bulk quantity for mass production,'' Pattison said.

Bosch said that lack of availability of some foods was a bit disappointing for the student committee, but understood the problem of supplying some items in a cafeteria.

``The one thing we were pushing for was more organic foods,'' he said. ``I think it's not cost-effective. [Food services] did contact Gordon Food Services. I think over time, with more demand, the cost will go down.''

National trends and the number of grams of protein found in a glass of soy milk aside (about seven, for those who need to know), most students - from the strictest vegans to part-time vegetarians - enjoy the new bar.

``There's more variety, that's for sure,'' sophomore Kyle Schlankser said. ``There really wasn't much offered last year. It seems like a lot more people use it than people chose vegetarian dishes from the hot line last year.''

But, like many students, his praise comes with more suggestions.