Welcome to the Melbourne Community Daily Discussion Thread.
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Uhhhh. The deanery just sent around an email. All catering done on campus is required to be vegetarian. They’re calling it ‘corporate vegetarianism.’ What fresh hell is this?
Doesn’t sound very enforcable for the catering not funded by the uni imo.
Unless they employ someone to run around and bust up illegal sausage sizzles.
I think they’re going to try and get around it by the fact that any event held on campus (for staff, anyway) needs to be run by/done in coordination with the admin heads of the school. They’re going to have to be the ones to enforce it. But one of them was the first to tell me that she’d head about this through the grapevine weeks ago and she thought it was just as dumb as everyone else
That sounds like a move designed to spark outrage and controversy. Mandating a certain percentage be vegetarian would make sense, and encouraging people to consider more vegetarian options is fine, but I can’t see it being popular insisting it be totally vegetarian.
I completely understand their ethical standpoint and wanting to be more sustainable. But you’re completely correct. Encourage more vegetarian options. Half the time I do choose the vegetarian option anyway because I just prefer vegetables to meat. But mandating it? Seems extreme. A lot of my Asian colleagues are just not comprehending ‘no meat.’
And from what I’ve heard (though it could be inflated because, like you said - outrage), it’s all catering done on campus. Even if the funding doesn’t come directly from the university. If it’s from our own funding that doesn’t come from the unis coffers. If it’s affiliated and on campus, it has to be vegetarian.
“Owing to the university’s policy, instead of weekly pizza on campus, we will now be feasting at a restaurant off campus once a month.”
The last time I went to a vegetarian event, I ate nothing but tempura mushrooms, cheese and crackers. Time for some malicious compliance because a lot of tasty deep fried junk is “vegetarian”.
microwaved potato
That’s just lazy baked potato.
It’s more like steamed potato – microwave ovens just heat the water inside the food.
Boooo
That’s ridiculous, and begs the question (playing devil’s advocate): why not Vegan?
I would venture that the cost will come into the argument (though they won’t admit it). Vegan options are often more expensive.
Big bowl of fruit for every event.
And carrot sticks
To be fair, a couple of the places that have catered seminars and conferences I’ve been a part of before do really great individual hummus and carrot stick cups. And fruit salad and yoghurt cups. But I’ve also seen the receipt for the catering and that shit does not come cheap.
Providing one default option that is edible for a lot of demographic groups. Like goat meat - not forbidden by any religion except the vegetarian/vegan group. Saves providing a billion different choices of edible to suit all the demographic groups and allergies etc. More sensitive and reduces waste. And vego food has come a long way from the bad old days of carrot & raisin sandwiches only. If you have to pick one choice only for catering, this is probably the least offensive one.
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Anyone with ibs or fructose intolerance won’t be happy. Legumes and fibre isn’t always healthy
Their argument is that it’s better for the environment. I get it, I do. They’re really pushing the sustainability stuff. We haven’t been allowed to use any single-use plastics in the catering for a few years, and I’m all for stuff like that. But this just seems a bit like virtue signalling to me. Let the people have their meat. The only way you can entice people into giving up their time for conferences and seminars is with the promise of wine and food.
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I have nothing against vegetarian options. Especially because it’s just for catered events. I’m not sure how I feel about the forced compliance bit
You sound like my ex. Added to which she wasn’t keen on tomatoes and anything spicy.
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I imagine this is some kind of radical climate action??
If that’s the case, they would have gone full Vegan I reckon. Go hard or go home lol
Their statement is that it is to be in line with the university’s sustainability goals, and research coming from our own institution is saying that it’s bad for the environment. So they’ve got to back themselves up, I guess