Vegans don’t have to scavenge for food anymore now that UF’s Gator Dining Services is expanding its vegan options.
Peta2, the world’s largest youth animal rights group, is bringing a vegan-friendly menu to campus.
Christina Bicknell, a peta2 campus representative, gave away free Tofurky sandwiches, granola bars and chips on the Plaza of the Americas on Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m. to raise awareness about the new vegan options available on campus.
“Our campaign for more vegan food to be brought to the UF campus was driven by the strong demand for it,” Bicknell said.
Bicknell said 20 new vegan foods were added to the P.O.D. Markets last week, and they’re moving off the shelves quickly. Some of the items include Tofurky, cheese, hot cereal cups, macaroni and cheese, tempeh, vegetable chips and energy bars.
“We are just really excited these options were brought to campus and that Gator Dining was willing to make changes,” Bicknell said.
UF finance junior Karli Astaphan said it’s great these foods were added because it’s hard to find vegan options at most on-campus dining locations.
“I think this will let vegan students have a much easier time finding healthy options that fit their specialized diet,” said Astaphan, 20.
Beverly Wharton, a UF mechanical engineering junior, said these small changes could lead to changes in people’s lives and perceptions of vegan food.
“Hopefully it will help others open their eyes that there are more choices and that they can be delicious, not scary like most people think vegan food is,” Wharton, 20, said.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 10/2/2014]
Danny Nguyen, a 19-year-old biology sophomore, bought a rainbow roll from Jason Reddy, a 22-year-old family, youth and community sciences UF alumnus. The P.O.D. Market opened Monday in the Hub.
