It is hard to put into words the increasing frustration I felt the three times I went up to the sandwich shop at Gordon’s and asked for a sandwich with tofurky, a tofu based turkey substitute. In response I have heard, “I don’t think we have that”, “Sorry, it’s frozen right now”, and “What is that” and each time I smiled and said nevermind when they asked me if I want something else, but what I would really like to say, more than anything, is,“Then why is it clearly displayed as a choice with all the other meats you serve at least a hundred times a day on a daily basis.” This in addition to waiting eight minutes for veggie burgers, eating a disproportionate amount of rice bowls, and waiting for the day the vegetarian taco filling actually exists is what many vegetarian students at UW-Madison face when they elect to eat in the dining halls.
For a school thats history is as richly steeped in agriculture as Wisconsin’s, it is surprising as well as disappointing how little it has done to reduce the effect that the meat industry’s unsustainability as well as cruelty toward animals has on our society. This is compounded by the fact that the school is located in Madison, one of the most liberal cities in the country and is surrounded by so much wonderful produce that every Saturday until the middle of November the capital building of the city is literally surrounded by it. Also, the school has launched the “We Conserve” campaign which is partnered with the Office of Sustainability. Basically, the school has every opportunity to increase its sustainability by providing more vegetarian options to students but chooses not to every time.
Because of all of this, especially the school’s apparent dedication to becoming more sustainable as well its deep connection to agriculture, one must wonder why the school has not attempted to give its students more vegetarian options or at the very least educate them about the meat industry and some of the alternatives that exist. A possible, and troubling, answer is that the school is more concerned with a different kind of sustainability, the economic kind.
Due to the meat industry’s size as well as its practices, it will always be able to provide a more affordable product than its smaller, alternative soy and bean-based counterparts. While there are no doubt inherent faults with the soy and bean industries as well, by promoting meat-alternative products at least the university would be acting consistent with the environmental image that it espouses but does not actually embrace. Instead ,the school creates an image of wanting to conserve by telling us to turn our lights off but in reality is actually just being fiscally conservative.
Should our school ever want to make a serious attempt to improve its sustainability, I implore that they consider creating more vegetarian options as a part of that initiative. We vegetarian students are getting really tired of large rice bowls.
How do you feel about UW’s vegetartian options at the dining halls and around campus? Do you think that they do enough to provide meal options for vegetarian students or is there more that needs to be improved on? Tell us your opinion and send all of your feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
