When a vegan walks into the Presidential Court Building Cafe, they only have a few options.

They can head for the salad bar to pile their plate with fruits and vegetables, or they can walk through the cafeteria, checking the labels on vegetarian dishes to see if any animal products are listed in the ingredients.

Someone who follows a vegan diet doesnt eat meat. No pork, no beef, no poultry, no fish, nothing. Additionally, they say no to eggs, milk, cheese and honey no animal by-products.

Aden Cunningham, undeclared sophomore, had been a vegetarian for three years when he moved into North Carrick in 2013-2014, his freshman year and had a meal plan which regularly disappointed him.

I pretty much ate terrible salads and really bad pizza because thats all that they had, Cunningham said. They claimed to have a vegetarian section, but it was rice and really awful tasting beans and occasionally tofu that wasnt cooked well.

During winter break of his freshman year, his girlfriend, Kara Williamson, a sophomore in interior design, decided to become a vegan.

Ive always considered myself an animal lover, but I never really paid attention to the fact that I was eating animals, Williamson said. Then one day it just kind of clicked in my head for some reason. I dont know what exactly did it. I just decided that I needed to change.

She, like many others, was initially a vegetarian.

I learned how bad the dairy and chicken industry was and that youre still paying for the deaths of animals if you buy those products, Williamson said.

Cunningham wanted to follow suit but delayed his decision because of his options in the cafeterias.

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