One option for the UCLA community to eat vegetarian lunches on
campus came to an abrupt end last week when a lunch program put on
by a Hare Krishna monk was shut down by campus administration for
violating California law.
But student demand for the food provided through the Bhakti Yoga
Club by Nama Kirtan das, a monk of the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness, hasn’t left the premises.
The program was suspended by campus administrators who, after
reading a Daily Bruin article on the program, determined the
biweekly sale of food by the Bhakti Yoga Club was illegal under
state law.
Since the suspension of the lunch program, over 50 students and
staff members have signed a petition asking for the program to be
allowed to return to campus. Many with dietary restrictions saw the
lunches as one of just a few options for nutritious, inexpensive
food on campus.
The petition has not yet been passed on to campus
administrators, but the statement of support is unlikely to usher
in the program’s return.
According to a Feb. 2 e-mail sent by Steve Fuller of the UCLA
Office of Environment, Health and Safety, to student groups in
California, such as the Bhakti Yoga Club, fall under the Nonprofit
Charitable Temporary Food Facilities category. Under this
classification, student groups are allowed to hold food sales only
four times per year.
Some of those who signed the petition, including Dwight Norton,
a graduate student in mechanical engineering, said he does not
particularly care about the technicalities.
Although Norton is not a strict vegetarian, he said he enjoyed
the tasty, nutritious vegetarian dishes served by Kirtan das
several times each month.
Norton and his friends signed the petition because they believe
Kirtan das provided an important service to the campus, he
said.
“The stuff that he provides ““ there’s no other
option on campus in terms of vegetarian, quality and cost,”
he said.
The nutritional value of the vegetarian food on campus was an
issue also raised by fifth-year biology student Milind Joshi,
president of the Bhakti Yoga Club.
Citing the low-protein content of the vegetarian options on
campus, food allergies and a lack of choices for those averse to
eating food cooked in the same pan as meat, Joshi said the lunches
served by the club were the only viable on-campus food option for
some people.
Joshi said the campus vegetarian menu is limited, and the
current situation only exacerbates the problem.
“How many months can I eat Gardenburger, veggie pizza or
veggie burrito before I get tired of it?” Joshi wrote in an
e-mail.
But the widespread impression students have about a lack of
variety in the vegetarian menus of campus restaurants is generally
incorrect, said Cindy Bolton, associate director of food service
for Associated Students UCLA restaurants.
“I recognize that there is a perception out there that we
don’t have very many vegetarian options, but we actually
do,” Bolton said.
ASUCLA currently offers vegetarian options in almost every one
of its restaurants, Bolton said, noting that the feeling students
have about the lack of vegetarian menu items stems mostly from a
need on the part of the restaurants to market those items more
effectively.
In an effort to provide students with even more options, the
salad bar in the Cooperage on the first floor of Ackerman Union is
going to be remodeled and replaced with the Greenhouse ““ a
health-food bar featuring fresh fruits and vegetables, whole
grains, soups and possibly a baked-potato bar, Bolton said.
The Greenhouse will probably be put into operation sometime
around spring quarter, Bolton said.