Winter 2023 Campus Dining Today - 26

Plant-based
pledge
RIT Dining aims for 50 percent
plant-based meals by 2025
Greg Livadas
senior communications
specialist, Rochester
Institute of Technology
Greater food options will be available for
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
students, faculty, and staff, as the dining
staff explores ways to increase plantbased
meal options.
" We have been making more plant-based
options available because students
have been asking for more plant-based
choices, " said Herlan Manurung, RIT's
corporate executive chef and associate
director of RIT Dining. " Our goal is to
provide diverse menus that meet dietary
needs and preferences and become
more sustainable. We're never going to
get rid of meats as options, but we want
our customers-students, faculty, and
staff-to have variety and know that we
are listening and working to elevate their
dining experience. "
He said students brought up the subject
during meetings with RIT Student
Government, as well as student PawPrints
petitions, and from members of the
RIT Vegan Club. PawPrints is a web
application for sparking change at RIT.
Vegan Club President Karaline Foley, a
fourth-year management information
systems major from Stoneham,
Massachusetts, is thrilled about RIT's
decision to offer more plant-based meals.
She hasn't eaten meat in more than eight
years.
26
CAMPUS DINING TODAY | NOURISHING A GREENER FUTURE
Foley said her club members have
enjoyed some of the vegan options
currently available, such as the tempeh
BLT at Midnight Oil.
" While there are multiple vegan meal
options available that we love, there is
not enough variety overall, " Foley said.
She said freshmen with meal plans are
100 percent reliant on the food options
on campus, so those students needed to
rotate through the same couple of meals
every day. But, she says, the new initiative
makes her proud to be attending a
university that cares about sustainability
and their students' health and well-being.
" Our club has been advocating for more
plant-based meal options on campus for
a long time now, so it feels great to see
that our efforts have been noticed. We
appreciate all of the RIT staff who are
working hard to make this a reality. I can't
wait to try out the new options. I'm sure
they will be delicious, " Foley said.
Earlier this year, RIT officials signed a
" Forward Food Pledge, " a memorandum
of understanding with the Humane
Society of the United States (HSUS),
striving to make 50 percent of restaurant
menu items plant-based by the end of
2025. When students are on campus, RIT
serves 2,800 complete meals per day;
about 24 percent are plant-based. In
return, RIT will receive culinary training,
ongoing consultation, hands-on support,
greenhouse gas assessments, and virtual
training and webinars.
Members of HSUS, including three chefs
who work with plant-based foods, as
well as vendors who offer plant-based
ingredients, visited RIT for two days in
May to show what can be done with
protein and high-fiber ingredients such as
chickpea flour, soy, tempeh, tofu, lentils,
and kidney, pinto, and black beans.
They gave RIT chefs recipes and
production training on 20 items, including
plant-based meatballs, burgers, stir fry,
and fried rice. More than 87 percent of
those who tested the menu items said
they were " extremely satisfied " by the
options.
Winter 2023 Campus Dining Today

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