To kick off the new semester, Bonita Vista High (BVH) started to offer students vegan lunch options. The school cafeteria regularly serves foods like pepperoni pizza, burgers and a teriyaki chicken bowl. Recently, they introduced a new alternative choice to include  any students with or without dietary restrictions. 

Vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians and students with religious dietary restrictions are able to enjoy a  menu consisting of Falafel wraps, vegan tamales, vegan teriyaki tofu and rice, Falafel bistro box and a vegan pretzel dipper box. 

Even though the school’s vegan options have been available for a month, many of the students who benefit from the inclusive initiative have stated that they were unaware of the new menu. Vegetarian and senior Isabella Gutierrez said she only recently discovered the vegan option offered. 

“I didn’t know that we even had a vegan option until a week ago. I feel like it would have helped to announce the new vegan option like on BVTV or the morning announcements,” Gutierrez said.

Yet, when informed of the new options put in place, some students like vegan and junior Ian Ridge came to a consensus that the vegan-friendly school lunches would act as more of a secondary option rather than an everyday one.

“I’ll probably get the school lunch for more food and for more calories,” Ridge said.

Like most other students with dietary restrictions, Ridge usually brings his own food to school. Since he already brings his own lunch, he explained that if he were to get school lunch, it would be “eaten as a snack.” He also mentioned his passion for cooking and prepping his meal.

“I really enjoy cooking and I’ll probably make better stuff than they serve at school,” Ridge said. “I could care less if they have vegan options or not.” 

Pescatarian and senior Kassidy Wakefield believes that a vegan school lunch option would be more of a backup meal. She wouldn’t plan on getting it daily and would most likely only get it in situations where she couldn’t get a meal from home. 

“Usually, I eat when I get home, but if I get hungry during lunch, I feel like whatever the school has to offer would be good to eat,” Wakefield said. 

Alongside the arrival of the new options is the concern of portions. In terms of portion, vegan options are much larger than what students would typically receive in a school meal. The relatively low calorie count of vegan foods allows for a much larger serving size while having the same amount of calories as their non-vegan counterparts. Students have also noticed the portion size difference.

“When I first got the vegan option, I noticed that the portion size was much bigger; it was the size of the salad,” Gutierrez said. “I guess that has to do with the calorie count of the food [since] hummus and pita bread isn’t as calorie dense as a slice of pepperoni pizza.”

Since vegan options were introduced, it is clear that many BVH students were unaware of the menu change. The Crusader contacted the BVH Cafeteria Manager Edwin Hernandez on various occasions for further input on the matter. After multiple failed attempts to get a response, it was concluded that Hernandez would not comment on the process and implementation of the new vegan options. Hernandez did, however, offer to ask cafeteria assistants if they would like to be interviewed by the Crusader, but  proceeded to fail at giving a follow-up when contacted.

According to Gutierrez, the recently added vegan options at BVH’s cafeteria are a step in the right direction for the school and should be encouraged more in the school community. The new addition of vegan options to BVH’s menu, however, does not affect the previous options offered to those without dietary restrictions. Many students remain unaffected by the menu addition. In a survey of 670 students conducted by the Crusader, 491 students do not plan on trying the new vegan options while 123 students would like to try it. 

“I think that students should try it. I think that these new options are a great opportunity for students to explore new food items. I, myself, am excited to continue trying the new food options here at BVH,” Gutierrez said.