Student Reviews

• Miriam

  (2020) This is my first year at the University of Utah. There is always at least one vegan entrée in the dining halls, but they do not vary as much as the non-vegan entrées do. For instance, the vegan breakfast option at Urban Bytes (the dining hall I most consistently visit) is ALWAYS a tofu scramble with potato and soy sausage. Entrées which are vegan are usually labeled as such, but unfortunately, sometimes non-vegan entrées get mislabeled as vegan. A couple times, I’ve opened a takeout box I was assured was vegan and contained coconut rice, only to find the flesh of a pig inside.
  Vegan desserts, when present, are labeled as such. I have a suspicion that the bagels may also be vegan, as bagels are vegan by default, but they’re not labeled as vegan. However, while there are non-vegan desserts available three times a day, every day, non-vegan desserts are only available a few times a week, and not on a consistent schedule.
  They always offer cartons of cows’ milk from a weirdly large variety of companies. At the beginning of the year, they offered cartons of soy milk as well, but that has since disappeared for reasons unknown to me.
  Some of the staff seem to have no idea what “vegan” means when you ask if something is vegan, or that there is a difference between vegan and vegetarian.

  There is an all-vegan food station called Rooted in Carolyn and Kem Gardner Commons, but unfortunately, the building is only open on weekdays, and only from about 10:30 to 3:00 or so, which means it’s basically just meant for lunch. I don’t know if it will be open more often when the pandemic is over, but for now, it’s not open often enough to be a viable option for everyday dining.

  As far as I’m aware, the University of Utah has no major plans to switch to use more plant-based foods in the dining halls.

• Stephanie VanBeuge

  I’m a current student at the University of Utah and scheduled to graduate in 2017. The salad and sandwich bar always has lots of vegan options. On most days, there’s also a vegan soup available. For hot food, there are commonly vegan curries and made to order stir fries where you can choose tofu instead of a meat. When hot foods are vegan they’re almost always labeled, but not so much with the sandwich bar and soups. There is also a menu online that is kind of reliable with labeling, but it also mentions what the items are made of. However, the online menu may or may not be what’s actually served in the dining hall. For me personally, I stuck to mainly fruit, veg, and soup because the warm food can be very calorie dense. Also, if you make friends with the kitchen staff (mainly the guys in chef hats) and mention that you’re vegan, then vegan things will start cropping up more regularly. They’re always really tasty too. Salt Lake City in general is very vegan friendly as well, especially around the university.

• Natascha Knowlton

  I am currently a student at the University of Utah. I have been a student since 2009. When I first started going to school, there was not much to eat. I think they are doing somewhat better. If I need to eat at school, there is always something I can get. At the main cafeteria, I can eat a salad with a ton of vegan dressings (they are now labelled with vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, etc.). They are surprisingly delicious, and I usually don’t even like salad that much as a full meal. Also, you can get vegan sandwiches, just have to check to make sure the bread you get is vegan, which they do have a few that are. They have burritos you can have made with vegan ingredients, as well. On about 3/5 of the days there are vegan soups/chili. So… if all of this fails, there are also sandwiches that are vegan and called “vegan sandwich.” So, when I need to eat at school (which isn’t often because it’s generally really expensive), I can eat in the cafeteria. There are also a few small cafes around campus that have vegan options as well.

• Jeremy Beckham

  I am a vegan and an alum of the University of Utah. I attended the school from 2006 – 2009. The vegan options in the cafeteria were simply inadequate. Along with other vegan students, I spoke and met with representatives with Chartwells – their food service provider – on several occasions to no avail. What a shame that the University of Utah still doesn’t appear to care about meeting the needs of its student vegan population, which is substantial.