I am a vegan, which means that I don’t eat any sort of animal products, including meat, fish, dairy, or eggs. I monitor the dining hall menus every day, making sure there’s an option that fits within my dietary restrictions and is something that I would actually enjoy eating. I can typically find an entree that checks both boxes. However, I can almost never find a dessert.
After a stressful day filled with assignments and readings, dessert is a great way to unwind. It can also be a reward for a job well done, an encouragement to keep going. Put simply, dessert is a treat that everyone should be able to enjoy. Unfortunately for vegans like myself, we cannot, and the College should ensure that vegan desserts are served in the dining halls on a regular basis and create a more inclusive dining experience.
Most of the desserts served in the dining halls include non-vegan ingredients such as eggs and milk. This is not surprising, of course — milk and eggs are staples of most non-vegans’ diets — but it is disappointing. Since the start of the semester six weeks ago, I have found vegan options on only two days when I’ve checked the Williams’ Bakeshop menu.
In a world with a plethora of plant-based alternatives, creating vegan desserts need not be a difficult or expensive task. In fact, the College already stocks many of these alternatives — such as oat milk and egg replacements — for use in other dishes, so Dining Services would seemingly not need to purchase new ingredients specifically for vegan desserts.
In addition, just because a dessert is vegan does not mean that non-vegans will not enjoy it. Oftentimes, non-vegans presume that vegan desserts will not be appetizing, but they likely already enjoy vegan desserts without even thinking about it. Take Oreos, for example. Oreos do not contain milk, eggs, or any other type of animal product, yet non-vegans often eat and enjoy them. This same principle would apply to vegan desserts offered in the dining hall. Non-vegans can eat any food vegans can eat, but the reverse is not true. As such, if a non-vegan dessert is swapped out for a vegan one, it would not take away from or negatively impact the dessert options for non-vegan students, assuming that the vegan dessert is Oreo-like in its appeal.
Furthermore, having vegan dessert options will even improve the dining experience of non-vegan students who have dietary restrictions. For instance, lactose intolerance is incredibly common, and since most of the desserts currently offered in the dining halls contain milk, lactose-intolerant students, like vegans, rarely have appropriate options. As such, vegan dessert options will benefit more students than one may initially believe.
If vegan students have dessert as an option in dining halls, they will be able to eat them along with their regular meals using a swipe. Currently, if I want dessert, I have to go to the vending machines and use my EphPoints, which non-vegan students do not have to do, because the buffet lines and ’82 Grill have suitable options for them that they can select along with their regular meal. This puts extra stress on vegan students’ meal plans because we must use more than just a meal swipe to enjoy dessert.
Overall, to better serve the needs of vegan students, Dining Services must be more inclusive in its dessert planning.
Phaedra Salerno ’27 is from Brick, N.J.
