The NIU test kitchen works to produce new and exciting menu items. It has accepted the challenge of keeping food tasting good while providing options for alternative diets.

Jill Kohn, nutrition and dietetics graduate assistant at the test kitchen, works with a team to improve food in dining halls. Current menu items have passed through the test kitchen’s doors, including items marked “vegetarian” and “vegan.”

Creating menus becomes more complicated when asking, “what type of vegetarian?”

“Part of the challenge is there are different definitions of vegan and vegetarian,” Kohn said. “Some vegetarians will eat fish [pesci-vegetarians], some will eat dairy [lacto-vegetarians] and some vegans even go to the extent as to cut out honey, because of the way bees are treated.”

Vegetarian options have been available at NIU for about 15 years and vegan options always are available, even if not as an entree. Some regularly-available vegan options include soy milk, the salad bar and Boca Burgers at the made-to-order dining halls, Kohn said.

Vegetarian or vegan entrees, however, are not the focal point of menus. The problem with meeting needs of special diets is it is secondary to meeting needs of a hungry campus in general. According to Kohn, about 6,000 students eat in the dining halls regularly, and the food people enjoy most are most commonly served, vegetarian or not. Most of the recipes on the menu are submissions from students and staff, although some recipes come from restaurant shows, vendors and food service magazines.

Some vegetarians still find the dining hall experience difficult.

“Even when it’s labeled vegetarian, it’s still sketchy; I asked [a dining hall attendant] what the vegetarian options were once and she told me turkey links,” freshman psychology major Kelly O’Shea said.

When she can verify authenticity, O’Shea generally thinks the vegetarian options are good but there is not much variety.

Amanda Ward, who has worked in the Douglas dining hall for four years, thinks vegetarian options are important and even students not vegetarians enjoy the options.

“A lot of people frequently try it because they don’t know what it is,” she said.

She noted when students do not like an item, there is feedback: students simply do not eat it.

Students can use suggestion boxes, available in all dining halls, to recommend recipes or changes, as well as speak with a manager at dining halls.