Samantha Schwanke/Winonan

If any students have been in the Jack Kane Dining Center recently, he or she probably realized the new addition: the taco bar where the vegetarian line used to be.

Many vegetarians, or others that enjoyed the food option there, have viewed the change negatively; they see it as the cafeteria taking away options for a certain group of people.

“They serve the exact same thing every day,” said vegetarian sophomore Josh Klein, talking about the vegetarian options at the small pasta grill, “I often have to resort to less healthy food. A lot of their food is not clearly labeled whether it’s vegetarian or not.”

“The cafeteria was making such great advances that I really appreciated, like the soy milk machines, and then they took a step backwards by reducing our food options,” said vegetarian junior Katrina Flach, “Since the line has moved they serve less variety. I rarely eat in the vegetarian line anymore. I basically just eat sandwiches.”

Bruce Bechtle, the director of dining services, gave an explanation and a tour of the new set up of the cafeteria.

“We wanted to do something new and different,” said Bechtle about the new taco line, “We thought that adding Mexican cuisine would be a nice addition. It’s very popular in the Smaug.”

He also made the point that every station in the cafeteria has a vegetarian option. The salad bar has both meat and vegetarian protein options, the grill has meatless options, such as cheese and veggies and the newly added grilled salad of the day can be made without meat.

There are beans offered at almost every station, the pasta line has garden burger crumble, the bagel station now has humus and pita, there’s cheese and veggie pizza and there’s always a vegetarian soup offered.

“[The demand for vegetarian options on campus] varies a lot,” said Bechtle. “We have so many options that it’s hard to say. We have people who crossover; people who aren’t vegetarian eat things that are vegetarian. We try to have options for vegetarians and vegans at any station.”

Flach viewed this differently.

“There is pasta, but some of the sauces are shrimp based so that can only be eaten on occasion,” said Flach. “The main line never has vegetarian friendly food, there is rarely cheese pizza, the grill cooks all the food together which isn’t vegetarian friendly so I can’t eat there, which leaves salad or sandwich.”

Another main concern for Flach and Klein was not being provided with a clear list of ingredients, which would help them determine if the food was completely meat free or not.

“Nutritional options are online; not necessarily ingredient lists, but anyone can ask at the lines,” says Bechtle, “We don’t add anything to make things that could be vegetarian not vegetarian.”

But it seems most students, and workers, are not aware of this.

“I have asked so many times and the workers rarely know,” says Flach.

Klein, too, was unaware of the nutritional lists and did not know where to get access to them. They can be found at: www.dineoncampus.com/winona/show.cfm?cmd=menus2 .

There are also feedback and survey options online that students can fill out to help their opinion be heard. There’s a committee that meets once a week to help make decisions on the food stations and many RAs hand out food surveys at their building’s weekly meetings.

Overall, it seems the goals of the cafeteria, though they have good intentions, are not being translated well to students. With some group effort the communication can be opened and hopefully change will be made that will satisfy both parties.

Contact Samantha at [email protected]