UC Staff
In an email addressed to the Mast, The Commons responded to the previous edition’s article regarding vegetarian options in the cafeteria. Here are excerpts of the email:
“The Allergen Key was born in 2007 and we haven’t really made any changes to the key, but we have gotten much more strict about our allergen handling and how careful we are to get the correct markings on all of our menu items and be very aware of our ordering practices….
We should have taken that statement out years ago, as we do pay attention to when gelatin is added to items and do not mark them as vegetarian. So you will see that change taking place…
We also reviewed our recipes and we don’t see gelatin being widely used. When there is Jello, it is not marked as vegetarian and the other two desserts that you’ll see not marked vegetarian are the S’mores bars (containing marshmallows) and the Dirt Cake (containing gummy worms). None of the recipes in the kitchen were found to use gelatin…
Our Sous Chef, Tony, has altered recipes that are prepared vegan and containing sugar to be made using the demerara sugar that is vegan instead of regular white sugar that may be filtered through bone char…
All of the cheeses used in The Commons use a plant-based rennet instead of an animal-base so they can all be safely marked vegetarian…
Your article was very timely as we are planning to promote Vegetarian and Vegan diets throughout the month of January so you’ll definitely be seeing more information in The Commons.”
