For one college, dining is always vegetarian—never boring

Most of the 1,200 students at Washington Adventist University (WAU) in Takoma Park, Md, follow the Seventh-Day Adventist Church’s cultural tradition of not consuming meat, poultry, fish or caffeine. So the school’s foodservice provider, Aladdin, part of Elior North America, provides an all-vegetarian menu that supports the church’s lifestyle.

Michael Womack, foodservice director, says he strives to come up with creative vegetarian menus that give students something to look forward to.

For the foundations of the menu, plant-based food has meant using quite a few products that stand in for meat, like veggie burgers, “chicken” cutlets or “sausage” crumbles made from beans, soy and other plant-based proteins and grains. These “meat analog” or “fake meat” products have been improving in quality over the years, as demand for meatless meals has increased across the general public.

Breakfast includes classic items like eggs and pancakes, with vegetarian sausage always on hand, backed up by a big selection of fresh fruit. Soups, salads and sandwiches rule at lunch, and meatless deli slices have been getting better in terms of quality, so they’re in the rotation too. Pastas, stir-fries and vegetarian versions of meatloaf, beef Wellington and other meaty classics make up the dinner menu. Vegetarian “scallops” have been a huge hit lately, served fish-fry style with lemon and tartar sauce.

Neither Womack nor Executive Chef Jaime Villanueva knew much about the religion before coming to WAU, so a lot of learning has taken place for both. Womack has been at the job for nine years, while Villanueva has been there for three. Villanueva says he regularly buys cookbooks from local Adventist bookstore Living Well for inspiration.

Villanueva has a background in traditional French cooking, so while there are vegan options on the menu, he’s thankful that vegetarian cooking doesn’t require him to sideline two of his favorite culinary cornerstones: cream and butter. That means that mac and cheese isn’t off the table, and neither are lots of other tempting pasta dishes.

While there are some vegan options always available, creamy sauces have been Villanueva’s secret weapon when it comes to bringing his own signature style to meatless dishes that include the fake meat substitutes.

“We have at least 50 sauce-based recipes and our menu changes every day,” he says. “We have a few different Alfredo sauces, creamy pesto, creamy sun-dried tomato sauce…”

The variety of sauces allows for quick changes and customizations on a popular pasta action station, creating a made-to-order “Italian stir-fry,” Villanueva says.

And not all the sauces are cream-based. Local portobello mushrooms are stuffed with sautéed spinach, onions and a bit of cheese, then drizzled with a versatile balsamic vinaigrette that’s also used on salads.

A Mexican bar, Haystacks, makes an appearance every Wednesday after chapel. It’s a concept that makes the most of the role that rice and beans play in the cuisine, and the culinary team plays up items like fresh guacamole and salsas made in-house. For Asian food, a stir-fry station has been very successful, not surprising since crisp veggies are the colorful stars in stir-fry.

Washington Adventist’s dining hall is open to the public, which includes a hospital across the street. And the dining program also takes on frequent catering jobs, from catered events for area churches to weddings and athletic events at the college. Recently, the dining team catered an annual prayer-driven event, Pink Day, for breast cancer awareness that featured speakers, discount vegetarian fare and a prayer circle.

“What they like best is how we memorialize and stand together in a circle of prayer,” Womack says. “It’s very powerful.”