From Guest Writer Samara Mohan: a chronicle of her first vegan lunch at Hewitt.

Being vegan at Barnard/Columbia has been a mixed experience so far. Apart from the vegan pizza at Diana and the vegan subs at Chef Mike’s, it has been hard to find food I love, considering the fact that I am not too much of a salad person. However, since eating pizza all day, every day is apparently not a very balanced diet, I decided to venture out by trying (almost) everything vegan at Hewitt for lunch for the first time. Here is what I found:

Salad: Despite being vegan, I am not a huge fan of salad, so I didn’t try it, but their vegan ranch dressing was exciting to see. However, if you do like salad, Hewitt has a ton of salad ingredients and vegan dressings at their build-your-own salad bar.

Vegetables: The cauliflower—a knock-off version of broccoli in my opinion—and carrots tasted just like plain cauliflower and plain carrots. I usually enjoy the potatoes at Hewitt, but today the potatoes were very tangy. The vegetable mix tasted like something your mom would force you to eat. As you can tell, the vegetables were not exceptionally flavored. However, the corn was exceptional! It was just the right amount of spicy—I really recommend it.

Main course: I really enjoyed the black beans and rice. The falafel I had with it was delicious, but could have been spicier. The spicy hummus and pita bread were definitely my favorite part of my meal at Hewitt. I would use an entire meal swipe just for this—it tasted that good. At the pizza station, the only vegan item they had were crushed red peppers. They tasted great but I really missed the wonderful Diana and Ferris vegan pizza.

Finally, Hewitt has vegan bagels—I did not have this today but in the past, these bagels do taste like regular bagels. As someone who has tried vegan cream cheese in the past, I did not want to attempt to have a dry bagel—as that’s not something most New Yorkers enjoy after having the iconic cream cheese bagel.

Fruit: Fruit was, and usually is, the only vegan dessert available at Hewitt. There is always yogurt kept beside the fruit, but unfortunately, it is never dairy-free. Considering it was the only sweet thing, it was amazing as it tasted fresh and juicy.

Beverages: My favorite vegan item at Hewitt: the drinks! Today the soda fountains were out of order, but I did get cranberry juice from the juice machine and it was amazing. In the past three weeks of being on campus, I have tried all the beverages Hewitt offers and they are all perfect.

Overall, Hewitt has a few amazing vegan options! The corn and the pita and hummus were delicious and so were the black beans and rice. The sodas/juices are super refreshing and tasty. Getting fresh-cut fruit was also a delight. However, If you’re like me and have a sweet tooth, the Ferris vegan muffins are definitely a better dessert option!

Barnard Hall via Bwog Archives