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| Millsaps Caters
to Vegetarian Diners Sprouts, mushrooms, tomatoes, eggplant and carrots. For a vegetarian, these foods used to represent the range of lunch choices in the average restaurant and college cafeteria. But times are changing. “The vegetarian trend in America has been fueled by health concerns, partly because people were looking for an alternative to the traditionally high fat American diet,” says vegetarian Ginger Gibson, a philosophy major at Millsaps. “However, vegetarianism did not begin as a purely health-related movement, but as a spiritual movement. In the Eastern cultures where vegetarianism originated, people often eat little or no meat because of the religious implications of harming other living things.” “We began searching for tasty vegan meals about six years ago when we had a large group of vegetarian students on campus,” says Stephen King, Associate Director of Dining Services. But looking for a vegetarian entree in the South, the land of fried chicken and barbecue, proved to be more difficult than anticipated. So King and Millsaps chef David Woodward tapped into the Vegetarian Resource Group, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on vegetarianism and interrelated issues. They also subscribed to distribution lists for vegetarian recipes and spent plenty of time experimenting in the kitchen. “We were one of the first small colleges in the nation to serve a vegetarian entree at every meal,” says Chef Woodward, “and we don’t use animal products, such as butter, in any of our vegetable side dishes.” Millsaps students appreciate the option of eating a meatless meal. Nicole Badon, a senior from Madisonville, La., says, “Their vegetarian lasagna is great, and I love their spinach and cheese ravioli.” Apparently, you don’t have to be a vegetarian to enjoy a little eggplant now and then. PREVIOUS PAGE | PAGE 1 OF 1 | NEXT PAGE |