Q&A: What it’s like to be a Vegan student in Fort Collins
Food is a huge factor in the Fort Collin’s community with the vast amount of local eateries and small chains such as Cheba Hut and Spoons that exist exclusively within Fort Collins. Campus West houses several exotic and local restaurants within a small radius ranging from pizza joints to Chinese to Mediterranean. It offers a little bit of everything and while it is enjoyable to see pictures of the food that’s served, be informed of bizarre food combinations and read opinions of the best places to eat their, nothing comes close to asking someone else what they like most.
Junior Colorado State University student, Avrial Turner discusses her favorite restaurants in Campus West as well as exploring the realm of healthy eating choices through her dietary restrictions. Turner is not like most students when it comes to her eating choices, for various health reasons Turner has a Vegan diet. Due to her diet Turner would most likely eat at home but on occasions when she would venture out she shared her two personal favorite restaurants as well as her thoughts on restaurants having items catered to every diet.
When you go out to eat what are your favorite restaurants in Campus West?
Turner: My personal favorites would have to be the Cheba Hut on West side and Fuzzy’s Taco Shop. Both places are just really good with great food and a unique atmosphere. Cheba Hut is fun and vivacious whereas Fuzzy’s has that authentic college vibe with the unkempt feel and the alcoholic drinks that could serve a group of people.
How does Cheba Hut, Fuzzy’s or even the restaurants in Fort Collins compare to other favorites of yours?
Turner: Well I’m from Denver originally and every weekend I travel down there for work so I’ve definitely had my share of favorite restaurants. The biggest contrast I see is with the food trends in both cities. Fort Collins likes to advertise itself as a green city with healthy food options and all natural but there are not a lot of options for different diets. For being a hip and youth centered community, Fort Collins doesn’t cater to the community and the trends such as Veganism as much as Denver.
When you say that they don’t cater as much to Veganism what do you mean? Is there any favorite items on the menu at those places and are the limited?
Turner: I definitely have favorites at both places with Fuzzy’s veggie tacos without cheese and substituting with guacamole. Cheba Hut has a delicious hummus and veggie sandwich on garlic where I again substitute all dairy with extra pickles. The menu is limited because my favorites are the only good Vegan options available.
For those who may not completely understand what Veganism is and the dietary restrictions involved can you elaborate on it?
Turner: Sure, Veganism is a dietary living where you cannot consume any kinds of meat, red or white including fish. Vegans don’t consume any products that come from animals such as eggs and milk.
Are there differently levels of Veganism?
Of course, you have someone like me who is Vegan for health reasons but I’ll still on occasions have fish. You have those who will not eat any animal byproduct or meat for ethical/philosophical reasons. Then you have what are called Ethical Vegans who spread that ethical morality to all parts of their life instead of restricting it solely to their diets. Ethical Vegans oppose the use of all animal byproducts for any use.
When you say health reasons, what are those health reasons?
Most of it is scientific stuff but for the most part my body has a hard time breaking down and processing things like red meat. I am also lactose intolerant and cannot consume milk. There are substitutes such as soy and almond milk and I can still consume any dairy product that doesn’t have lactose in it. There are several other dairy alternatives that still have a main component that is found within regular dairy products called casein and I can consume that without any worries or troubles.
While there are healthy food options available for every diet in Fort Collins, there isn’t enough choices on the menu for Vegans. Fort Collins advertises itself as a green city that promotes a healthy lifestyle and eating choices and Turner hopes to see those choices become available on the restaurant menus.
