A Guide to Eating Vegetarian and Vegan at Vanier
Among the Vanier population there is a small, unknown sub culture of students. Often disconnected from each other, vegans walk alone into cafeterias with the hope, like everyone else, of finding a meal to eat. But what are our options? Sometimes for vegetarians and vegans, our options can seem bleak. Eating as a vegan or vegetarian used to be hard some semesters ago, but luckily the time has come, and our needs have been recognized! At both cafeterias, Jake’s and the Chartwells cafeteria (more commonly known as the cafeteria next to the “Asian caf”) there are many options for vegans and vegetarians.
At Jake’s, there has been a huge increase of vegan and vegetarian food this semester. Recently vegan food from Aux Vivres, a popular vegan restaurant in the Plateau, has begun being sold at Jake’s and every day there is a large selection from that restaurant to choose from. On the menu you can find large salads, bean wraps, tofu and tempeh wraps, sandwiches with grilled vegetables and cheese, smoothies, vegan baked goods, and other snacks. Unlike Chartwells, at Jake’s you can find baked goods that are vegan, like their cookies, and if you’d like, soy milk or almond milk can also be added to your coffees or teas.
| Bean Wrap (V) | 4.50 $ |
| Wraps with tofu or tempeh (V) | 5.95 $ |
| Large Salads with tofu or tempeh (V) | 5.95 $ |
| Small Carrot Salad (V) | 3.95 $ |
| Small Quinoa Salad (V) | 5.25 $ |
| Grilled Veggie Sandwich with Cheese | 5 $ |
| Small Smoothie (Banana w/ soy milk) (V) | 2.83 $ |
| Cookies (Some are V) | 3-4.50 $ |
| Granola Bar (V) | 2.25 $ |
| Chips (Plantain or Potato) (V) | 2 $ |
| Cut-up Fruits | 2.50 $ |
At Chartwells there is also plenty of options for vegetarians and vegans. The vegan food there is cheaper than the vegan food at Jake’s, but the amount there varies from day to day unpredictably. Every day around 12 there is the “meal of the day”, which is made up usually of three or four servings of mysterious somethings that appear in those hollowed out metal trays. Here you find a lot of vegan and vegetarian options. Just say, for example, “I want the baked potato and the grilled vegetables only”. That way you get a 2/3 version of the meal instead of the whole thing. Your plate will still be full, and when you pay for it your meal will be cheaper. This meal of the day can be vegetarian or vegan depending on what you order exactly. Often they have rice, baked potatoes, roasted vegetables, which is suitable for vegans, and something cheesy (like lasagna) for you vegetarians.
There are also plenty of salads, half of which are vegan, and if you’re lucky, the salad bar will be full; this varies, sometimes you’ll go and the salad bar is empty, other times it has few options, like just plain lettuce and hard-boiled eggs, but on a good day it will be very full. On a good day, you’ll find not just leafy greens (like lettuce and spinach), but also couscous, beats, chickpeas, roasted vegetables, bean salads, or macaroni salad, or potatoes. The price of this salad goes by weight, and generally a full plate will fall between 2.50 – 5.50 $.
There are also soups which are vegetarian, and often there is vegan soup as well (whichever ones don’t have cream).
| Medium Sized Salads (Beans, Couscous, Pesto Pasta)(Half are V) | 2.61 $ |
| Meal of the Day (Can easily be made V) | 2 – 4 $ |
| Soups (Often are V) | 1.39 – 2.61 $ |
| Baked French Fries or Tater Tots (V) | 3 $ |
| Salad from Salad Bar (Can easily be made V) | 2.50 – 5.50 $ |
| Fruit (Oranges, Bananas) (V) | 1 $ |
| Fruit Bowls (V) | 2.61 $ |
| Vegetable and Tofu Stir fry with Noodles | 6.50 $ |
What’s listed here in the charts isn’t everything of course, just a run down, there’s more vegetarian options like the grilled cheese at Jake’s. Or there’s pastries, or those weird looking egg sandwiches that are served at Chartwells. I don’t list everything since, well, it’s pretty obvious to see what foods do or do not have meat in them.
Good Luck!
Written By: Miriam Lafontaine
Originally Published: December 2015
