The Vegetarian Society of LSU is not trying to spoon-feed vegetables to the student body.
VegLSU Faculty Adviser Judith Schiebout said the group is an informational organization, not an activist organization.
“The vegetarian society allows vegetarians to come together and share recipes,” said Scott Ziegler, a philosophy junior and VegLSU president.
The members bring vegetarian dishes to the potluck dinners and sometimes watch movies on animal issues.
“The Vegetarian Society just viewed ‘Peaceable Kingdom,’ a movie that explores factory farming,” Schiebout said.
Schiebout said that the movie is relevant to “Fast Food Nation,” the mandatory University summer reading for incoming freshmen.
Ziegler said that to address the issues in “Fast Food Nation,” members will advertise diet alternatives to incoming freshmen this fall.
“Fast Food Nation” talks about a lot of bad things about the U.S. emphasis on fast food, but gives little in the way of solutions and things that college students can do in the course of everyday life,” Schiebout said.
She said that one solution is to stop eating at fast food joints and another is to quit eating animal flesh. There are plenty of easy-to-prepare vegetarian options that are “fast” enough.
“I asked [Provost] Risa Palm at a Faculty Senate meeting if the University would be sincere about conscience-raising, since we have a McDonald’s in the middle of the Union,” Schiebout said.
Schiebout said she was impressed with the University’s plan to have students explore all aspects of “Fast Food Nation” in classes next semester.
VegLSU will continue to be pro-active about preventing animal cruelty next semester. Ziegler said that the group had a table at LSU Earth Day, where they accepted donations to adopt animals at animal sanctuaries next semester.
Members of VegLSU range from strict vegans to vegetarians who eat the occasional burger, and they publicize a variety of issues from animal cruelty to health.
Schiebout said she became a vegetarian later in life, but she is in favor of raising children in the vegan lifestyle.
Ziegler said that he had many vegetarian friends and became a vegetarian on a trial basis.
“I adopted the diet and found that it is a lot easier than I thought,” Ziegler said.
He said he had heard rumors that people who did not eat meat became sickly, but he said that vegetarianism is a healthy lifestyle as long as the individual keeps a balanced diet.
Schiebout said that many foreign exchange students who are from cultures that are mainly vegetarian join VegLSU.
“I am Indian, and I am a strict vegetarian and have four other Indian roommates who are vegetarians who occasionally eat meat,” said Rohit Sharma, a graduate assistant and member of VegLSU.
Sharma attended a potluck organized by VegLSU and met many Americans who practice strict vegetarian diets.
“My roommates decided that they would be strictly vegetarians after that,” Sharma said.
Ziegler said animal cruelty issues did not play a big part in his decision to become a vegetarian, but learning more about the substandard conditions that animals endure “serves a purpose for keeping me vegan.”