Student canteens at Ghent University will reduce the share of vegetarian dishes on offer, VRT reports. Currently, half of all dishes on the menu are vegetarian but from the start of the new academic year, the share of vegetarian meals will be lowered to 25%.
The University says that despite the offering of meat-free dishes, students are still mostly opting for meat or fish creating a lot of waste as canteens bin large amounts of vegetarian food, costing the university significant sums of money. As a result, the menu will be adapted to better suit customer demand.
Ghent University’s student services department has been under financial strain for several years and has sought to work with students and staff to make its food offering more financially sustainable.
A study conducted by the university revealed that 70% of students that ate in the canteens opted for non-vegetarian dishes, despite the variety of meat-free choices on offer. The university also noted that the increased vegetarian selection had decreased satisfaction among those eating at canteens.
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“Our annual customer satisfaction survey showed that customers were not satisfied with the range of fish on offer and wanted more variety in the range of meat. It is our intention to increase the range and to better match demand in the future,” the study noted.
The new menu will be 75% non-vegetarian and 25% vegetarian dishes, as opposed to 50-50. For sustainability reasons, beef will be replaced with pork whenever possible. To save money, two of the university’s canteens will also be turned into cafeterias.
