PeTA

Since 2014, the animal welfare organisation PeTA has awarded the "Vegan-friendly" label to refectories in Germany that stand out for their permanent vegan menu, well-trained staff and additional (advertising) campaigns on vegan nutrition.

Our dining halls have already had the PeTA award since 2017 and awarded three PeTA stars for our commitment to the topic of vegan nutrition, most recently in 2020 for all dining halls. PeTA writes: "The Studierendenwerk Darmstadt offers a well-rounded vegan menu in all of its dining halls."

In 57 nationwide student unions, approximately 80% of all students in Germany receive a gastronomic offer on a daily basis. Vegan meals are more and more often included in the menu of young people, so it is not surprising that the vegan offer in refectories and cafeterias is also steadily increasing. Here in Darmstadt, too! The proportion of vegan dishes in our menu has increased significantly. Our guests now have the choice of at least one vegan main course every day in all our dining halls.

Ulrike Laux, Managing Director of the Studierendenwerk, congratulated all employees of the university catering and summarised: "We are developing very different packages of measures in parallel, trying to do ever better justice to climate, animal and species protection."

Volker Rettig, head of university catering, emphasises: "Half of the food served in the Studierendenwerk canteens is now meat-free. Our cooks get regularly trainings on vegetarian and vegan trends. The main topics here are, for example, how to handle plant-based products on a commercial kitchen scale and how to prepare vegetarian snacks."

In the future, we would like to continue to expand our vegan canteen offer without sacrificing quality and limiting the overall variety of offers.