Calling All Vegetarians...
I am a loud, outspoken, impatient, meat-loving, pseudo-vegetarian. I grew up on a farm in north-central Montana, and I always knew where my meat came from and exactly how it had been processed. Every day, sometimes twice a day, I would eat grass-fed, free-range beef that had been raised on our ranch and was processed by our local butcher shop. This beef had almost no fat content and tasted better than the choicest steak you could find at any classy Fargo-Moorhead restaurant.
When I came to Concordia, however, I learned that not all beef (or any other meat, for that matter) was the same as the beef I had enjoyed growing up. Most beef, especially at large institutions like colleges, camps, and restaurant chains, is grain-fed, raised in a feedlot, and mass produced by conglomerates such as ConAgra or BPI. Before came to Concordia, I had never (knowingly) encountered this type of meat.
I do not like this unfamiliar beef.
I understand that Concordia serves mass-produced meat to students because it is less expensive and easier to obtain than grass-fed, free range beef. (To be fair, a portion of the meat at Concordia is locally produced).
In light of my upbringing, however, I have opted for the vegetarian route when I’m away from home because, as I said before, I do not like this unfamiliar meat. I eat beef and wild game from our family ranch when I’m at home (or at my house in Moorhead, where I have a freezer full of meat from Montana) and when I eat on campus at Concordia, I rely on Dining Services to provide me with delicious vegetarian dishes.
In general, DS is quite accommodating to vegetarians. We have veggie burgers at Sizzle, meat-free pasta sauce at Al Dente, and usually some type of vegetarian friendly entrée at Comfort or Explore. In my experience, however, the Maize is a different story. We have the typical options such as veggie burgers and cheese pizza, but aren’t we entitled to a little more variety?
This semester, my schedule is such that I eat lunch on campus every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Sometimes, I bring my lunch from home in my yellow Monkey’s lunchbox, but lately I’ve been getting my lunch from the Maize.
A few weeks ago, I began to notice that there were several days each week when the Maize did not serve a vegetarian soup, and in the middle of a Fargo-Moorhead winter, all I want to eat is hot, delicious, veggie-friendly soup. One day, my soup of choice (the only soup that appeared to be vegetarian) looked and smelled like creamy potato, but when I began to fill a bowl with it, I realized that it was brimming with bacon bits!
My frustration with the soup situation had been building for quite some time, and this was really the last straw. I gave the partially-filled bowl of bacon-laden soup to an innocent bystander and immediately lodged a complaint with a friend who works at the Maize. I ranted and raged (and remember, I’m quite loud and outspoken) about soup, meat, vegetarian options, and the plethora of reasons why bacon bits should be on the side instead of within the soup for several minutes before buying a cheese pizza and storming out of the Maize—still craving soup, disappointed with my cheese pizza, and generally frustrated with the state of the meat-eating world.
Here’s the good news: my loud, frustrated, pseudo-vegetarian voice was heard.
Ever since the creamy potato soup incident, I have felt a new atmosphere in the Maize. Every day, I walk in and see the “V” (for “Vegetarian”) prominently displayed next to one of the soup options.
If I want some variety, I can ask the friendly workers at the entrée counter for my choices and at least once a week they have a special for vegetarians, such as meatless gourmet grilled cheese- made just for us.
Vegetarians who frequent the Maize still have the old standbys of cheese pizza and veggie burgers, but for once, we have other choices. I’m not saying that the vegetarian selections at Maize are all-inclusive, and I’m not saying that it was my complaint, in particular, that changed the system, but I would like to say thank you.
Thank you, Maize employees, for hearing my rant and acknowledging the problem. Thank you for making my lunchtime less frustrating and more fulfilling.
Thank you for making veggie friendly entrées every so often. And most of all, thank you for putting the bacon bits on the side.
