By Rachel King, Staff
Wednesday, Feb. 14 was Ash Wednesday and marked the beginning of the lent season for the year of 2024. Lent is a season of fasting, prayer and almsgiving which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday. It’s a time set apart to prepare for Easter celebrations. Many Christians use this time to abstain from practices that they believe separate them from God. For some this could be things like giving up social media, not drinking sodas, or not eating fast food. For those who participate in the Catholic tradition of lent it means not eating meat on Fridays. This applies to all Catholics who are at least 14 years old with the exception of those who are ill and need nourishment from meat.
It has been speculated that Catholics give up meat during lent because they are paying homage to the Jewish dietary laws that are named in the Old Testament. This is entirely not true. Catholics abstain from meat because meat is considered to be a delicious food and is associated with celebrations and feasts. Prior to modern day fast food restaurants and the increased availability of food products that we experience in today’s society meat was considered a luxury and abstaining from it meant you were giving up that luxury and maintaining a life of simplicity.
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor is not Catholic, but it is a Christian university and many of the students here are Catholic. That means that while it may not be a vast majority there are still a few students on campus who are not eating meat on Fridays. This then begs the question: what meatless options does the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor offer?
I personally have been a vegetarian for three years now and am in my second semester here, at Mary Hardin-Baylor. While I will say that it was difficult at first to figure out what options there were and what works best for me, but over time I was able to develop a routine and have plenty of options that I enjoy.
First and foremost we should discuss Bawcom. While it’s not my favorite place to eat on campus, I do go to dinner there at least once or twice a week. Typically if I go to one of the lines serving hot food I can ask for the meal without any meat and they will simply not put the meat dish on my plate, but sometimes that’s not possible or I don’t want whatever they are serving. On those occasions I will either get a salad from the salad bar and get a basket of fries from the burger line or I’ll just eat cereal. These are certainly not the only vegetarian items in Bawcom. There’s always pizza and pasta, sometimes they have vegetarian soups and you can always find ways to modify the main meal to fit your needs.
I typically use most of my meal swipes at Sub Connection and Moe’s. Both of these restaurants offer meatless options for their meal exchanges and their regular menu items. At Sub Connection you can get a sub without meat on it or sometimes they have salads or hummus in the cooler by the drink fridges. My go-to at Sub Connection is a 6-inch parmesan herb with provolone, cucumbers, bell peppers, lettuce, tomatoes and ranch dressing. Moes not only has tofu as a protein option, but you can also just get no protein in your meal. At Moes I typically get a bowl with seasoned rice, beans, corn salsa, grilled veggies, cheese, lettuce, guacamole, and sour cream. There are, however, plenty of other options at Moe’s. They have burritos, bowls, quesadillas, tacos and several other meal options to choose from. What’s so great about Moe’s and Sub Connection is that they not only both offer vegetarian options, but that those options are so easily customizable and can be modified to fit each individual’s specific needs.
Chick-Fil-A is almost completely out of the question if you’re trying to avoid meat. Occasionally I will go there for some fries or a milkshake, but there really aren’t many vegetarian options that can be considered full meals. They do of course have salads that you can modify to get the chicken taken off and you can always get their macaroni and cheese if you need a snack, but none of their meal swipe options are meatless so it’s just not a top pick for me.
And lastly, if none of these options are working for you, you can always find somewhere to eat off campus or, if you live in an apartment, cook for yourself. There are plenty of vegetarian options at restaurants in and around Belton and Temple. So, if you are Catholic and practicing the tradition of giving up meat on Fridays for Lent or a vegetarian who is struggling to find things that work for you or if you are considering giving up meat for one reason or another just know it is perfectly doable. By no means am I suggesting that there is no room for improvement as far as accommodations for those with dietary restrictions, but for now there are plenty of options for those who don’t eat meat and so far I’ve had no issues keeping a vegetarian diet on the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s campus.
