Anyone who gets food at the Hamilton “Ham” Center cafeteria will notice Metz’s A-ranked Vegan Report Card. The Vegan Report Card stems from a nation-wide program launched by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The objective of this program is to encourage academic institutions to provide more vegan options in cafeterias across the country.
“When I first came here it was beans and rice as the vegan option every day,” General Manager of Metz Bill Moore said. “We’ve changed it slowly. I didn’t know a lot about veganism when I came here; this was all new to me. The students taught me a lot, so the chef and I worked together with PETA and looked at some of their recipes.”
PETA determines the Vegan Report Card grade based on whether the institution follows the 5-step program to “Veganize Your Cafeteria,” a brochure released by PETA. This incentivizes institutions to offer at least one vegan entree at every meal, offer non-dairy milk products and participate in Meatless Mondays. Although the average ranking in the state of Florida is “C,” some students are not completely satisfied with Metz’s vegan options.
“I think it’s awesome and they try really hard to give us a lot of vegan options but I don’t think the report is accurate,” Council of Green Affairs (CGA) member Simon Bustetter said. “I do not think we are an “A” school, but compared to other schools we are.”
Moore explained that the goals for Metz are to maintain an “A” rank, get more students involved and for Meatless Mondays to return, but gradually.
“What I found out with New College students is that you can’t just throw something at them, it has to be gradual,” Moore said. “Next year we might take one more station and make it completely vegan.”
Information for this article was gathered from peta.org and Peta’s “Veganize Your Cafeteria” brochure.