35 L.A. Schools Commit to Vegan Lunch Menu Due to Student Demand

Following speculation, The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) have stated they are officially going to be rolling out vegan lunch menu options to 35 schools as of January 2018, according to VegNews.

Vegan options for LA students began has a pilot programme at the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year and has been a roaring success. Since the beginning of the trial, the participating schools in Los Angeles have sold a staggering 31, 204 vegan meals for lunch.

Initially, there were 5 dishes on offer, including chili, and teriyaki burgers made from soy. Joseph Vaughn, the Food Services Director for LAUSD has now revealed he will be developing 10 vegan meals for the schools who will be adopting the new menu. Vaughn stated, ‘the data clearly shows that a sufficient number of students desire vegan options in addition to the regular lunch menu.

Kiki Tarrant, A cafeteria manager at Roosevelt High School, one of the first participating schools in the programme, said the demand has been extremely high from the students. She observed, ‘I’ve needed two times what we had, they are asking for vegan now. Students are paying more attention to what they eat.

The district is not alone in offering an inclusive menu, New York students have also been enjoying the benefits of a vegan diet.  All 1,200 schools in the area are now offering one vegan option to their pupils at the very least. Some schools in New York have even gone one step further, adopting exclusively vegetarian menus.