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Please pass the wheat gluten: With their hands clasped and their heads bowed, the 15 members of Royal Co-op share a moment of silence before dinner. Before them, on an oversized wooden table, the cooks have placed two pots of enchiladas, rice, beans and papaya salsa. But unlike most Mexican dinners, one pot was prepared without meat products, while the other excludes all animal products and nothing, including the beans, is fried. The Royal Co-op and The House of Commons are two co-ops that exclusively serve vegetarian meals which exclude all meat and fish and vegan meals, which do not include any animal products. The Vegetarian Awareness Network, a nonprofit social service organization that promotes ecological and healthy diets, has nationally recognized October as Vegetarian Awareness Month since 1988. The trend of vegetarianism is growing, especially among college-aged adults, according to a national poll conducted this year by the Vegetarian Resource Group. The poll estimates that there are 12 million adult vegetarians in the United States. People between the ages of 18-29 are most likely to be vegetarian, with 6 percent of adults within that age group reporting that they do not eat red meat, poultry or fish. On campus, meatless diets have become a popular option for animal-rights advocates and health-conscious students. Rhys Southan, an radio/television/film junior, moved to the Royal Co-op after spending two years at Beauford H. Jester Dormitory, where he struggled to maintain a healthy diet with the dorm's limited vegetarian options. "At Jester, I just ate a lot dry cereal and dealt with it, as hard as it was," he said. Southan has been a vegetarian since his freshman year in college and became a vegan a year later. But he had been exposed to the diet since high school by vegetarian friends who often questioned him about his choice to eat meat. "They were constantly telling me how awful it was to eat meat," Southan said. "But I never thought not eating meat was desirable or even possible." Then, in 1997, Southan ate his first vegetarian burger and realized that here were good alternatives available for vegetarians. "My friends' anti-meat arguments suddenly started making sense, and I realized that going vegetarian would be easy," he said. "Then I became vegan because it seemed like the natural next step." As a vegan who does not like vegetables, Southan eats a diet based mainly on soy products, tofu, textured wheat products and nutritional yeast. Initially, he changed his diet in support of animal rights, but his motivations have come to include health, the environment and morality. "I realized there's blatant hypocrisy in liking animals and eating meat," he said. "But, if I haven't been reading animal-rights literature, it's easy to become indifferent to animal rights because we are so disconnected from animals, especially from the ones we eat." Seeking a vegetarian-friendly living environment, Alex Myers, a geology junior, moved into the House of Commons, an all-vegetarian and vegan co-op in June. She was born into a vegetarian family and adopted her parent's lifestyle, even after she was old enough to make her own dietary choices. "Since I could talk and respond to food, I have said 'no' to meat," she said. "It was never denied me. I just thought it was gross." The House of Commons has a strict policy banning all meat products from the house, a policy that Myers said most vegetarians value. "To me, meat is just rotting flesh," she said. "It's hard to even see it when I open up the fridge." When she was younger, Myers often had to defend her diet but said the university community has a more progressive attitude towards vegetarians. "A lot of us, like me, were raised by hippies," she said. "And Austin's a hippie town, so vegetarianism is considered more normal." Even with more awareness, she said she still encounters situations where people don't understand her diet. "The worst is when you tell people you're a vegetarian, and they give you a plate full of vegetables," she said. "It's not like you become a vegetarian and suddenly become a rabbit." Her diet consists mainly of rice and grains, but she is cautious not include too many carbohydrates and sugars, which she said is a common problem among vegetarians and vegans. "I don't think I could ever eat meat, unless something drastic happened," she said. While meatless co-ops are becoming more prevalent, most vegetarian and vegan students still live in dorms or apartments, often without the support of roommates who share similar eating habits. Bijal Ajmera, a special education senior, has been a lifelong vegetarian. She originally accepted a vegetarian lifestyle because of her religion Jainism which advocates nonviolence against all living things. Over time, however, it has become part of her general philosophy on life. "I strongly believe in compassion at all levels," she said. "Religion is a major factor in my vegetarianism, but it's really evolved from my own views, which include animal rights and environmentalism." It has also forced to her seek a balanced diet, something she said most college students struggle with. She said vegetarianism will continue to become more common among college students as a sign of our environmentally conscious times. "There is a very big movement towards environmental and social awareness, and vegetarianism focuses on both of those things," she said. "We are also living in a very health-conscious time, and people are more informed. The time when people said I couldn't be healthy and vegetarian at the same time is slipping away." Social forces are a popular motivation behind vegetarianism, but others look to the lifestyle solely for health benefits. After being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was 2 years old, David Stratman, a management information systems senior, has always monitored his diet. He only restricted his sugar intake until his freshman year in college when his blood platelet count dropped to a dangerously low 15,000. A healthy person has 150,000-400,000 platelets, which prevent excess blood loss when flesh is cut. "If I was hit on the head during that time I wouldn't have survived," he said. "But the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong." After several traditional remedies failed to increase his platelet count, Stratman altered his diet to a strict vegan regime, which includes 85 percent raw vegetables, no animal products and iodized salt. After a month on the diet, his platelet count rose to an astonishing 240,000, and his liver and kidney functions performed at higher-than-average levels. Since then, after remaining on the diet, his platelet count has remained between 70,00-90,000. "To get well, I decided give my body what it needs naturally," he said. "It made sense to cut out animals and processed foods because it's not what we would eat naturally." While he recognizes the social factors behind a meatless diet, he said that his reason for being vegan is health related. "I would probably still be eating meat if it wasn't for my health," he said. "But I do plan to stay on this diet indefinitely. The amount of energy I have now alone would be reason enough." Jeanne Freeland-Graves, a home economics professor and head of the nutrition division at the University, said vegetarians tend to have lower body weights and fewer incidents of gastrointestinal diseases, heart disease and certain cancers. She added, however, that vegan and vegetarian women could experience problems with pregnancy and conception because of low body weight. The American diet includes large amounts of protein, so most people on meatless diets are still able to obtain adequate amounts of protein, she said. "Vegetarianism and vegan diets can be totally healthy provided one knows what they are doing," Freeland-Graves said. "The primary reason that most college students give up this diet is because it takes a lot time, and they may become bored with the lack of variety." |