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Berkeley, Calif. Cambridge, Mass. Pasco County Vegetables Matter

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By RONNIE BLAIR

rblair@tampatrib.com

Published: March 19, 2009

WESLEY CHAPEL - Pigs are so cute that Emily Kyle prefers not to eat them, so a barbecue rib sandwich normally wouldn't find its way onto her tray at Wesley Chapel High School's cafeteria.

Lucky for her, the school's lunch menu includes a vegetarian version of barbecue ribs, with a soy, protein and vegetable mix taking the place of pork. Kyle, a 14-year-old freshman, snatched that sorta-porcine sandwich up Wednesday, happy that no pigs died to make her meal.

"I'm partly vegetarian," said Kyle, 14, a freshman. "I eat some meats, but I don't eat others."

In short, chickens and cows should remain on their guard.
School cafeterias in Pasco County apparently are just the place for vegetarians, partial or otherwise.

Peta2, the youth-oriented arm of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, named Pasco this week as one of the five most vegetarian-friendly school districts in the nation.

Orange County was the only other Florida district on the list. The other three school districts are Berkeley Unified in Berkeley, Calif., Cambridge Public Schools in Cambridge, Mass., and DeKalb County Schools in Decatur, Ga.

"We try to have a vegetarian offering virtually every day and at almost every school," said Rick Kurtz, Pasco's director of food and nutrition services.

Still, at Wesley Chapel High School's cafeteria Wednesday, most students stuck with pizza, chicken Caesar salad or other meat-oriented choices.

Some teenagers, though, ventured into vegetarian territory, selecting a hummus platter or, like Kyle, the veggie barbecue rib sandwich, a fairly recent addition.

Judhit Zarazua, 14, a freshman, munched on a veggie burger that she spiced up with hot sauce.

Zarazua, who is Catholic, gave up meat for Lent, so that's why she searched for a meatless option and plopped the veggie burger on her tray to see how it tasted.

"It's good," she said several bites later.

Once Lent is over, Zarazua expects to return to her more usual fare, such as pizza and chicken sandwiches.

Juan Crespo, 15, a freshman, ate a veggie burger once when the cafeteria gave free samples. The burger "tasted pretty good" but didn't match his favorite entree: teriyaki chicken with rice and an egg roll.

Ten percent to 25 percent of students at middle and high schools in Pasco will try the vegetarian offerings, said Maggie Giunta, a nutrition specialist with the school district.

It can be tough to lure young people away from their routine choices, though. Giunta highlights vegetarian items on the menus in hopes of piquing their interest. Sometimes cafeterias offer samples the way supermarkets do, but "we don't have a lot of extra bodies" to do it that often, she said.

She is hoping the veggie barbecue rib sandwich will gain in popularity but didn't expect miracles Wednesday.

"We aren't going to be selling as much as pizza," Giunta said.

Pasco's food and nutrition services department is self-supporting, so cafeterias can't afford to keep items on the menu if no one eats them. A vegetarian meal costs the same as a meal with meat.

Renee Vaughns, 17, a junior, considers pizza a top choice at lunchtime, although she's adventurous enough to consider selecting something vegetarian, perhaps in the near future.

"I would try it just to try something new," she said.

Rebecca Forney, 17, a junior who enjoys the cafeteria's grilled chicken and definitely is not a vegetarian, salutes those who are.

"More power to them, because I couldn't do it," she said. "It's wonderful that they care about animals so much they would cut out meat entirely."

Kurtz said he's happy about the recognition, but the school district's reasons for offering vegetarian fare are nutritional and unrelated to Peta2's animal-rights issues. The organization would not approve of everything served in Pasco's cafeterias.

"They might not be too happy with chicken nuggets," Kurtz said.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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