I understand that meat is a very important source of protein for everyone who eats it, but what about the ones who don’t?

Many vegetarians I know, including myself, bring their lunches a lot of the time.

When I do not bring my lunch, I either do not eat or I eat sun-butter and jelly, which is a decent meal but is not nutritious or filling what-so-ever.

I also wish I had more variety with the meals I eat.

I completely understand that there are full salads available at a student’s request, but I am also under the impression that not everyone is allowed to get “extras.”

We attended school for 15 days this month and out of those there has only been one day were they have a meal without meat being the main dish.

There are many other meals the school could incorporate into the lunch menu that do not have meat.

Spaghetti can be vegetarian, on the schedule they make it very known that the sauce is meat-sauce, I am happy they let us know but I also personally believe that it would not harm anyone to make a vegetarian sauce.

If you look at the Federal Registry’s Department of Agriculture document, it does not say meat has to be served at every meal. When meat is mentioned it also puts beside it “meat-alternative.”

There are not a large number of vegetarians anywhere. Statista made an infographic showing that about 7 percent of Americans that are 18-29 years old, currently in 2018, are vegetarians. That doesn’t even cover lower ages, but they do exist.

Being vegetarian most of the time is a choice but for some it is not. Cases in which people suffer from meat allergies do exist regardless it is aggravating going to restaurants and have so few vegetarian options.

I am not saying the school needs to change every single meal for the very few vegetarians in our school.

I am suggesting that they provide us with more nutritious, healthier options that do not contain meat.

Lentils, beans and quinoa are only a few protein filled options and, cooked right, they can be very delicious.

The fruits and vegetables the school serves are rarely fresh fruit, which does not benefit the students in a healthy way either.

The cooks do a very good job at preparing their meals and before I was a vegetarian I enjoyed them very much, but now that I am vegetarian I am left with sun-butter and jelly or a sack lunch.

Many vegetarians probably do not have a problem with this as it has not been brought up before, but I think it would be a good idea for the school to look at a few vegetarian options because it could quite possibly benefit us all.

21abraun@usd489.com