By Lily Raff
News Editor

Where’s the beef? Not on the plates of many students at Wesleyan. But as it turns out, that may be the only thing Wes vegetarians’ diets have in common.

"There are a lot of people who say, ‘Yeah, I’m a vegetarian,’ and then they eat chicken or fish or something," remarked Jessie Levin ’03, who is a vegetarian.

According to a pamphlet distributed by the Davison Health Center, Levin was referring to "semi-vegetarians." The pamphlet, which defines a vegetarian as one "who eats mainly plant foods," explains that there are several ways of eating vegetarian.

A semi-vegetarian abstains from most but not all foods of animal origin, the pamphlet says. For example, a semi-vegetarian may not eat red meats but may sometimes eat chicken.

Lacto-ovovegetarians consume milk or milk products and eggs, but not meat or fish, according to the pamphlet. Lactovegetarians include milk products in their diets, but omit eggs, meat and seafood. Vegans do not eat any animal products.

Dan Sloan ’02 said he is a lacto-ovovegetarian for economic reasons.

"It’s more efficient not to eat meat... Raising animals to eat takes up a lot of land, takes up a lot of grain... [vegetarianism] is a more reasonable use of resources," he explained.

Levin said health and political reasons contributed to her decision to become a vegan approximately seven years ago.

"Above all, it’s just for the global health," she said. "The majority of meat and dairy industries... pollute very much and... use all these additives and hormones... it’s just perverse and really inhumane."

Levin said that she does consume some dairy products at Wesleyan.

"I am [vegan] at home, but I’m not here, because I can’t find enough to eat," she said.

"The staples are all here, it’s just not always what you want to eat. You have to put forth some effort to get a balanced diet that tastes okay," agreed Anna Halperin ’03, who has been a vegetarian for more than four years.

Some frosh said the mandatory meal plan makes the vegetarian lifestyle more challenging for first-year students.

Halperin said she thinks Mocon offers fewer vegetarian options than other dining facilities

"At the campus center, I’ve seen that they have these little [containers] of yogurt. I wish they had that here at Mocon," she said.

"I sort of like the plan I’m on now just because I have more options," Sloan agreed. "I think Mocon always had good options, but it sort of got repetitive."

Abigail Herron ’00, who is a tour guide, said the Office of Admission gives information to the contrary.

"Admissions tells us that Mocon is the best in terms of vegetarian options," Herron said. "I talk about Summerfields, also, but definitely the focus is on Mocon."

Halperin said that at Mocon, she eats pretty much the same thing every day. She said her typical meal consists of rice and beans, along with a salad.

"I know what’s in it, I know that it has protein..." she said. "Plus, I’m a picky eater."

Many vegetarian frosh take comfort in Mocon’s salad bar, rumored to be the second longest in the state of Connecticut.

Herron said the Office of Admission recently clarified to tour guides that the Mocon salad bar holds no such title.

"Admissions got really upset and told us we weren’t allowed to say that anymore... when we went on our training tour, they made this big deal about how it wasn’t true, like, ‘Look at it; common sense tells you it’s not the longest salad bar in Connecticut,’ and stuff like that.," Herron said.

Herron added that she is not sure how the rumor started.

"I guess because it’s really long," she offered.

Herron said that on tours, visitors ask questions about food at Wesleyan "all the time."

"I think there’s definitely a conception that Wesleyan is a school with a lot of vegetarians," Herron said.

Some students said there are fewer vegetarians than they expected at Wesleyan.

"I talked to people who attended here, and someone told me that I think almost 50 percent of the student population was vegetarian and vegan, and that made me think there would be lots of options. And so when I got here, I was disappointed with the variety," Levin explained.

Vegetarians are not the only ones sinking their teeth into Wesleyan’s meatless offerings.

"I choose a veggie burger over a normal burger," said Yoni Yuval ’03, who is not a vegetarian. "At least the veggie burgers are edible. The regular burgers are disgusting... I love meat, but I just don’t eat it here."

Other students, however, feel frustrated with the strong vegetarian influence on campus.

"The fact that they don’t sell red meat in WeShop really irks me," said Anna Johnson ’02. "I have an iron deficiency and... I have to go to Super Foodmart to buy red meat."

Johnson said that of her nine housemates, seven are vegetarians and the other two do not eat red meat.

"There’s... [the Wesleyan Animal Rights Network] and E3 and all these groups that go to the food places on campus and make sure that things happen, but there’s no meat-eaters group," Johnson continued. "I’m in the definite minority."