Application season is winding down (or gearing up if you're the procrastinating type), but for vegetarians and vegans still in high school, it might be interesting to take note of PETA's list of the most veg-friendly schools for 2006. The list of schools was generated by and voted on by visitors to PETA's website, most likely students from the various schools who wanted to promote the things that their campuses are doing to diversity their offerings. The only real drawback to the list is that it doesn't take into account the ease of being a vegetarian off-campus. If it did, odds are that Berkeley would top the list with its tremendous amount of vegetarian and vegan fare just seconds from campus and Indiana University, located in a state where the only vegetarian food at some restaurants is a wedge salad sans bacon and dressing, would be further down the rankings. As it stands, here are the most veg-friendly campuses in the US and Canada:
- Indiana University-Bloomington, Indiana
- Humboldt State University, California
- University of Puget Sound, Washington
- Yale University , Connecticut
- SUNY Purchase, New York
- Oberlin College, Ohio
- New York University, New York
- University of California-Berkeley, California
- University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
- University of Florida, Florida
Canada
- McMaster University
- University of Victoria
- University of Waterloo
- Simon Fraser University
- Mount Allison University
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-28-2006 @ 2:25PM
Amy said...
I attended IU-Bloomington for 2 years, and even in 1994 it was extremely veg-friendly. And there are TONS of local restaurants in Bloomington that offer veg fare. Notably a couple of great Indian restaurants. The big college towns in Indiana aren't hick towns - Purdue has the greatest number of international students of any US university, and it shows in the local community. We settled in West Lafayette, partly for this reason.
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11-28-2006 @ 2:35PM
AB said...
Depending on how big the university is, the rest of the town will probably have veg options. I went to #10 in a small town in Florida but the Univesity was so integral in the town that the rest of the town paid attention to what students wanted; loads of veggie/vegan options at restaurants. I miss vegan pizza, and I live in a big city.
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11-28-2006 @ 2:44PM
Anna said...
It's funny how I didn't know hardly any vegetarians (except those that were veg for religious reasons) when I was at Berkeley for undergrad, yet met many vegetarians and vegans (for moral, health, or just disliked meat reasons) when I went out to grad school at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. Maybe it's just a grad student versus undergrad thing.
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11-28-2006 @ 3:10PM
Phillip said...
I got my B.A. and J.D. at IU Bloomington, and got to know the gorgeous, sprawling campus well. I was a vegan, and never had any trouble finding something good to eat -- ALL of the dining halls offer vegetarian & vegan fare, and some are designated as veg-only. As I was graduating, I remember the University was negotiating with a number of commercial and fast-food vendors to establish dining options... worries me that if they do eventually sell out, the campus won't be so veg-friendly.
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11-28-2006 @ 3:17PM
Robyn M. said...
I couldn't agree more about IU-Bloomington. We just visited B-town this weekend, and drooled over the TWO new all-veg restaurants. This doesn't mention the myriad other restaurants in town that have plenty of veg-friendly fare (Mmm... Laughing Planet burritos... *drool*). It's sad that the midwest is really stereotyped the way it is. On the other hand, I actually live in the part of Indiana to which the article refers, and while it has 4 colleges in or near the town, it is *definitely* a "wedge of salad, no bacon" kinda place.
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11-30-2006 @ 1:21PM
Allison said...
"loads of veggie/vegan options at restaurants. I miss vegan pizza, and I live in a big city."
Nodding along with that, AB. I didn't
attend UF, but I'm in that area several times
a year. Love the restaurants around Gainesville :D
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12-27-2006 @ 8:56PM
Jen said...
I went to IU for undergrad, and Bloomington, the town it is located in, is a vegetarian and vegan haven and mecca in Indiana. It's true that most of the state is not veg-friendly, but the town of Bloomington and IU itself have the best selection of vegan eateries that I've ever seen - and I live in Southern California now!
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2-14-2007 @ 2:14PM
Laurie said...
I went to Virginia Tech and there were plenty of Veg and vegan friendly places to go off campus plus awesome co-ops and organic saturday markets to keep me fat year round.
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