Sitting at In-N-Out with her friends, senior Aarohi Shah snacks on a box of fries and sips on a soda — the few items on the menu that fit her dietary preferences. As someone who became vegetarian for health reasons, Aarohi said after consuming meat, she often finds herself navigating limited menu options while her friends enjoy full meals.
Aarohi also said dining out can be difficult because restaurants often have limited options that cater to her dietary restrictions.
“Even if there’s a place with vegetarian options, a lot of times it has stuff I’m allergic to in it, so that’s a struggle,” Aarohi said. “When traveling, I always have to make sure that there’s something on the menu that I can eat, but you kind of get used to it. It’s not the biggest deal in the world — it’s just annoying and sometimes other people find it annoying, but I always find workarounds where I bring my own food.”
Raised as a vegetarian, senior Aria Shah, who is not related to Aarohi, faced similar challenges and because of them recently decided to include white meat in her diet for more options and protein.
“This summer, I decided to start eating meat because I was traveling a lot, so I just needed more because I needed more protein options,” Aria said. “I was getting a little worried about my protein intake, and I wanted to try more foods because I feel like it limited my options for a really long time. It kind of limited me to just pasta, and even pasta sometimes has meat in the sauce, so it was very basic food when I was traveling.”
But Aarohi said she’s able to maintain a standard level of protein in her diet through protein-heavy vegetarian foods.
“There’s a lot of protein sources you can get from paneer, tofu, protein bars and protein shakes,” Aarohi said. “I have protein bars that I really like. There’s beans and veggies. They all have some amount of protein in it, and you can drink milk if you’re not intolerant.”
Christopher Gardner, the director of Nutrition Studies at Stanford and a researcher of plant-based diets, said the number of individuals adopting plant-based diets is increasing.
“My sense is that the proportion of vegans and vegetarians is changing very little,” Gardner said. “But the proportion of flexitarians, cutting back on meat and eating more plant-based options, is growing.”
Senior Disha Manayilakath, who was raised vegetarian, said it is a common misconception that vegetarian diets are difficult to maintain.
“Other people have no clue how I do it, but honestly, I don’t even think about it,” Manayilakath said. “I’m just so used to it — I’ve been this way since I was born. I think if you’re used to eating meat a lot and then you suddenly decide you want to go vegetarian, that would be really hard, but because I’m just so used to it, it’s not hard.”
Gardner also said non-vegetarians often believe vegetarian foods aren’t flavorful.
“Misconceptions about vegetarian diets are that they are boring and rabbit food,” Gardner said.
“In fact, there are vegetarian dishes from around the world that are quite varied and delicious, such as chana masala from Indian cuisine, hummus from Middle Eastern/Mediterranean cuisine, gado-gado from Indonesian cuisine, stir-fry veggie dishes from Asian cuisine, bean and rice dishes from Latin American cuisine.”
Manayilakath also said some assume vegetarians have a difficult time being around others when eating meat.
“I feel like sometimes people think that I’m some sort of activist that really can’t stand animals being killed,” Manayilakath said. “The reality is I’m not — I literally just don’t eat meat. Some people are like ‘Oh my God, can I eat this around you?’ I don’t know how other vegetarians are, but it’s not like I’m allergic to it or that I can’t be around it. It’s just a diet preference, and it’s not like I would ever judge someone because they’re obsessed with meat.”
For those considering a vegetarian diet, Gardner said it can be beneficial to take a more gradual approach when cutting out meat, depending on the needs of each individual.
“Go at your own pace,” Gardner said. “Some people are good at making large changes all at once. Others are more successful when the changes are made slowly and spread out over time. If there is something you are cutting out of your diet or cutting back on, make sure you find something that is as enjoyable or more so as the replacement.”
Looking forward, Manayilakath said she is uncertain how her diet is going to evolve and is curious how college dining halls will affect her preferences.
“I’m going to college next year which is going to be interesting since it’s not really my choice of what I get to eat,” Manayilakath said. “But a good amount of people, I would say, are vegetarian, so vegetarian options are something that I think will be available. But I have no intention or any reason right now to not be vegetarian.”
Ultimately, based on his nutrition research, Gardner said eating minimally processed plant foods with limited animal products is generally healthiest.
“There is no one best way to eat that works for everyone, which is good news because that allows people some flexibility,” Gardner said. “However, overall, for the intersection of human and planetary health, the foundation of a good diet should be a whole food, plant-based diet.”