January 20, 2010: College Students’ Guide to Vegetarian Eating

One of the most difficult things about being in college is the inability to eat well at a decent price. Dining hall food just doesn’t cut it and sometimes it is really hard to get yourself to cook a decent meal. Being a vegetarian in college is even more difficult. My mother worries excessively about my eating habits up at school.

I usually lose a lot of weight because I am usually on the go and forget to eat. As a vegetarian college student my two basic staples are cereal and pasta. I could practically live off of those two things.

No, I do not eat those two things every single day but it is a major part of my diet aside from fruits and plenty of frozen veggies (try Green Giant Steam Bags- really easy to make and so yummy). Cereal and pasta is easy to make and super cheap. When cereal and pasta does not cut it I go out to eat on Marshall Street or most recently the Inn complete on South Campus (Syracuse University).

Some suggestions for a decently priced veggie meal are below:

Pita Pit – Try their humus pita, it costs $5 and you can put all the veggies and cheese you like

Samrat- Although the food is mild in flavor for indian food, this is a great place to go if you crave a little spice especially for a lunch. The lunch buffet costs $7. Grab a mango lassi (an indian version of a milkshake) and you are good to go.

SyraJuice- located on Marshall Square Mall, they have amazing Smoothies and Burritos for under $5!

Bleu Monkey Sushi- Although I do not eat fish, there are many veggie rolls available as well as salads. I usually go for the avocado or cucumber,eat go for about $2-$3.

The Inn Complete- on South Campus, it is convenient for people who live nearby and the best part is they take SU Super Card money. Today I ordered a Veggie quesadilla with a side of french fries (soooo good). The quesadilla had cheddar cheese with tomatoes, jalapeñoes and green peppers with a side of sour cream and salsa. It was a tad spicy but I love heat in my food. The best part was cooling it off with chocolate lava cake for dessert.

Aladdin’s- my new favorite place. What I like is the variety of foods available from falafel to Pitas to Pasta, Pizza and Salad. The most expensive dish is $13 but thats probably a meat dish. I recently tried their Falafel salad. It is $6.95 with your choice of salad dressing and cheese. It was incredibly filling but also delicious. For a more middle eastern taste, I chose their tahini-yogurt dressing with feta cheese.