Like it or not, plant-based food is making its way into the mainstream.
Citrus College is not left out of this growing trend. In recent months, food options specifically marked “vegan” have begun to appear at food vendors across campus.
The cafe in the student services building on campus offers packaged vegan and vegetarian foods distributed by Bestway Foods, as does the refrigerated section in the Owl Bookstore.
“At our bookstores, we got vegan options during winter semester,” Mayam Castro, a Citrus student and cashier at the Owl Bookstore, said in an email. “There aren’t as many options as I’d like to see, but at least we got a few options.”
Castro is also vegan and said the items being sold at Citrus “sell out really fast … considering the fact the we don’t have a variety of choices or even order a lot of those options.”
Students leading plant-based lifestyles and meat-eating students alike said they are willing to try the vegan options being offered at Citrus.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Nick Vargas, a Citrus Student who eats from vendors on campus several times per week, said. “If it looks good, I mean, yeah, I’d go for it.”
The new Owl Cafe on campus is doing its part in making meat-free options available as well.
“Everyday of the week we are going to have something that is vegetarian,” Maria Arquin, the cafe’s general manager, said.
As far as vegan options, she said there would be sides of plant-based foods that come with the main courses, but they can be purchased individually.
“We’ll have potatoes and veggies on the side that they can purchase by themselves,” Arquin said.
Arquin said the Owl Cafe is planned to eventually have an all-encompassing menu for students with different dietary and lifestyle needs.
“We’re working on it,” Arquin said, “…to have options, you know a little bit of everything for everybody.”
For more information on the Owl Cafe’s menu, visit http://www.citruscollege.edu/stdntsrv/owlcafe/Pages/default.aspx .
