Schenley plans changes for vegan students’ diets

Arielle Feitelson shoots a disapproving look at the dressing-soaked salad sitting on her tray… Arielle Feitelson shoots a disapproving look at the dressing-soaked salad sitting on her tray before sighing and digging in.

As a kosher Jew with a meal plan, she says her options are limited at Schenley Cafe.

“They have vegetarian stuff here but it doesn’t taste like much,” Feitelson said, eyeing the remains of her cheese pizza. “You have to ask if you’d bring your family here – I wouldn’t. Why should we have to eat such low-quality food?”

Feitelson complained that Schenley removed the salad bar this year, replacing it with prepackaged salads of lettuce and tomato for the same price. Other changes, including a new entrance and checkout design and a new Freshens Yogurt Bar, have some students more excited.

“The whole design seems a little more spacious, and there’s a little more variety,” sophomore Tamara Mosley said as she munched on Pizza Hut breadsticks, a new item.

Customers at Schenley or the Marketplace, Pitt’s main all-you-can-eat dining hall, both accept cash, but most students use prepaid dining dollars or blocks from the meal plan.

As a sophomore living on campus, Feitelson is obliged to pay for Pitt’s meal plan. Students living off campus can choose not to buy a meal plan, but many buy one for convenience.

Sophomore Katy Wong lives off campus but often eats lunch at Schenley with her “commuter” dining plan, which offers a limited number of blocks and dining dollars. She found there were some overall improvements in the food.

“Things seem healthier this year,” she said.

At the same time, Wong said the healthy choices remained sparse. “Everywhere you go food is fried or covered in cheese. I like to eat healthy, and it’s hard here,” she said.

According to a Schenley employee known only as “Jake,” most students have no problem finding things they can eat. He says people with meal restrictions can choose among clearly labeled low-fat, vegetarian and vegan items.

“If they have any trouble they just ask me,” he added.

Pitt’s vegetarian program is based out of the Marketplace, but Schenley is working to accommodate more students, Frank Caruso, the Sodexho representative at Pitt, said. Sodexho handles all dining services at Pitt, from running dining halls to catering on-campus events.

The grab-and-go salad bar at Schenley will soon include a wider variety of salads, as well as other vegan snacks like tofu and soymilk, Caruso said.

For now, students in need of vegan sustenance can visit Eddie’s, where prepackaged items are sold a la carte.

Even with the improvements, students say that some days the food is disappointing.

“They just put some things together and it looks like slop,” Mosley said, “and I don’t appreciate that.”