By: Lanie Brice ‘24

In March of this year, I moved across the street from a grocery store, and I realized that I no longer had an excuse to not try new food and make fun, healthy dishes for myself. I’d wanted to explore cooking for a while, but I’d been stuck in a rut of making the same roasted cauliflower and rice on rotation. I have worn the picky eater badge my whole life, and I decided that now would be the perfect time to work on it.

By: Alexis M Peters ‘20

You may have heard of vegetarian and vegan diets. But what the heck is raw vegan? Let me explain. Raw veganism is a diet in which you don’t eat any meat or dairy products, and you don’t eat anything cooked. So what do you eat, you may ask? Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouts. “Why would you do this to yourself?” This was a question my friends asked of me many times. My plan was actually to eat raw vegan for two weeks, and I wanted to do it as a sort of cleanse, so that I could have a fresh, healthy start for the new year. Except, two weeks didn’t really work out for me… But, we’ll get to that later. My goal for this raw vegan journey was to eat super fresh foods, cleanse my body, and maybe have glowing skin and silky hair by the end of it. Since I have a meal plan (and also for experiment’s sake), I planned to exclusively eat food from the dining hall. So, let’s begin!

By: Ellice Ellis ‘20

When the long-awaited USC Village opened, nothing excited me more than the new Trader Joes. The organic grocery chain is known for their relatively cheap prices, great frozen food selection, and friendly staff. In addition to this, Trader Joe’s is a vegan’s paradise. There are a lot of products on the shelves of TJ’s that are essential to a great vegan meal. As a TJ’s fanatic and a vegan, I’ve come here to share my top 5 products from the store that will rock your little vegan belly.

By: Terry Nguyen, ‘20

As a dorm-residing freshman, it is easy to complain about the culinary scene of the dining halls: The food is too bland, they serve the same options weekly, the cooked meat sometimes looks suspicious, they added cheese into your omelette again — you get the point — the list can go on and on. Nevertheless, as your days at the dining halls are coming to an end, you realize that you have developed some clever food hacks over the past months dining at EVK, Parkside, or McCarthy. It is an acquired skill, and dining hall food is also an acquired taste, especially after months and months of the same salad bar with the same offered options of condiments. You learn to look past EVK’s strange-looking edamame, and un-avocado-like “avocado” sandwich spread. The period of super salty kale and sauteed greens are also fading into the memories of first semester. As a soon-to-be sophomore, here are a few easy food hacks to make the most of your time at a dining hall before that all-you-can-eat privilege is replaced by an apartment meal plan — or, no meal plan at all.

By: Adriana Bernal Martinez ‘20

Leading a vegan lifestyle isn’t necessarily a walk in the park (though it may or may not involve plenty of those). Leading a vegan lifestyle while in college, however, is a next level of difficulty. Not only is it awfully tempting to get a burger from The Habit at Tutor Campus Center, but it’s notably difficult to know exactly what’s going into your body when eating in the dining halls. Here is a guide of helpful tips and tricks for maintaining a vegan diet on campus (fear not, most of these tips can also be utilized for a generally more health-conscious semester as well).