“All You Can Eat” is a column by Emerson Prentice ’29 that focuses on highlighting and educating readers about dining on campus by interviewing chefs, highlighting menus from various dining halls and diving deep into the processes behind the food. The column hopes to change the way students think about and appreciate the food and team that feeds them around the clock at Stanford.
Combinations of tofu, beans and meat alternatives have been sprouting up at many meals and dining halls across Stanford’s campus. This could mean a chickpea salad with kalamata olives and tomatoes, or barbeque jackfruit. Other plant-based counterparts can even have unintentionally misleading labels, causing students to mistake chick’n, the prevalent plant-based chicken alternative on campus, for the real deal.
This plant-based prevalence isn’t a coincidence. This year, dining halls at Stanford intentionally expanded their plant-forward menus. Chefs are introducing new vegetarian proteins, like tempeh and jackfruit, while emphasizing seafood, legumes and chick’n at meals.
Chef Mychel Brewster, the assistant director and executive chef of Arrillaga Dining, said this has been an ongoing change but there has been “a huge push this year.”
The Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) food architecture playbook states, “[R&DE aims] to reimagine protein on our menus and in our operations, adopting plant-forward shifts focused on deliciousness and culinary exploration, to entice a new generation of eaters towards dietary patterns that optimize nutrition within planetary boundaries.”
However, some students find the integration of plant-based food can go too far. Sometimes, dining hall-goers will get faux meat even when they don’t mean to.
“They need to be clearer. It shouldn’t be easy to accidentally take plant-based food,” Nathaniel Motulsky ’29 said.
According to R&DE, research has shown that plant-forward menus are beneficial in that they can be both healthier and better for the environment.
The Mediterranean diet, an example of a way of eating that emphasises plant-based foods, consisting primarily of vegetables, fruits and whole grains, reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. The Mayo Clinic also found that diets with reduced meat tend to be higher in fiber, vitamins and other nutrients, all additions to one’s diet that can improve health. On the other hand, those who consume more processed meats are at a higher risk of death from diabetes, stroke or heart attacks.
Yet, the exact ingredients in plant-based meat alternatives can make these dishes a mixed bag in terms of health benefits. The Cleveland Clinic finds that while plant-based proteins can provide prebiotics and healthy fats, they can also be filled with sugars and inflammatory oils. Stanford dining halls currently offer Molly’s, Impossible and Beyond as the options for meat replacements.
“I feel like plant-forward dining is necessary, partly because a lot of red meat isn’t sustainable, but also because it’s generally good to have variety for people who can’t eat meat,” Grady Fleming ’29 said.
In 2022, R&DE committed to reducing food related carbon-emissions by 25% by 2030. Dining halls adopted the shift to plant-forward meals to work toward this goal. Cutting out beef in particular can be beneficial for the planet since cattle farming releases significant carbon emissions and uses large amounts of water and land. Other foods emphasized in a plant-based diet though, like berries, can also have large environmental impacts, especially when eaten out of season. Nevertheless, fruits still have a carbon footprint that is approximately 10 times smaller than that of beef.
As of now, 50% of all menu items offered at dining halls are entirely plant-based. Mixed meat dishes are also served with a 30% vegetable blend.
“Last year we only did [salmon] once every two weeks, whereas now we have it at least once a week,” Brewster said. Dining halls now offer “different fish besides Basa. Now, we’re doing black cod. It’s local, sustainable, with healthy omega [fatty acids] and a premium cut of fish.”
One example of the wide-ranging plant-forward offerings at dining halls include Casper Dining’s Asian-inspired plant-based menu. There, students can build their own bowls with varying protein options, like plant-based lemongrass “meatballs” or dumplings, and add different toppings, such as edamame or cucumber-pineapple salad.
The tradeoff for the health and planetary benefits of plant-forward eating is a shift-away from sometimes beloved meat-based dishes. This begs the question if something is lacking from the dining halls as a result of the plant-forward push. Can plant-based chicken ever fully replace a well-made chicken curry? Can jackfruit take the place of braised lamb?
“[Plant-based options] are fine, but they could be a lot better,” Fleming said.
