we asked bursars at every college and hall the following:
1. Do you routinely offer the option of vegetarian and vegan food in your college or hall?
2. If you do, can you supply a sample of the usual menu you provide?
3. Do you have a chef that is trained in cooking vegetarian and vegan food?
NB: In our letter to Bursars we indicated that their responses would be published online.
Sample menus received can be found on the Sample Menus Page
domestic bursars' committee collective response:
Your email of Monday under the above heading has reached almost half of the Colleges. It has been agreed by Domestic Bursars that I will send a collective response to you (below) as Chair of the Domestic Bursars’ Committee. Some of us are vegetarians or vegans.
It is fair to say we were surprised by your email – receiving requests for information in 0th week of Michaelmas Term is not very welcome when we all have a huge amount to do. While your deadline for replies is a way off it is likely to drop off radars and that could appear to be unhelpful. Related to that, colleges provide vast amounts of data on all manner of college functions and life and that includes detail on food provision. Such information is much the best managed centrally where is [sic] can be easily accessed by applicants and others. The University itself and OUSU collect a wide range of information – Domestic Bursars spend many hours a year filling in forms and providing answers to all manner of things thought to be best presented centrally in its own right or by means of comparison. Many of us are very sceptical about the quality and quantity of responses your approach will bring and how they might be weighted to give a comparative picture on such a broad topic.
The use of the name ‘Norrington’ is deeply misleading and cannot have the approval of the man who invented the academic results table after whom it is named. The metrics you are using do not lend themselves to comparison in the same was [sic] as that table operates. Other comparison charts are clearer and more accessible for not using an Oxford term that may not be understood by all. Some colleges have commented they don’t much care where they come in the proposed table.
I am not aware of any college that does not provide vegetarian food routinely, and we respond to specific other dietary and religious requests as they arise. In response to your last two questions I have pasted below one reply which is a good summary of the broad view:
2. No, all dietary specific food offerings are both seasonal and on many occasions bespoke, serving to promote an interpersonal working relationships, between Chefs and Students/Guest and Event organisers. Dietary specific sample menus can often create confusion and or false exceptions, for this reason we discourage there use.
3. Do you have a chef that is trained in cooking vegetarian and vegan food? The nature of this question is confusing, are you asking “do we have trained chefs who specialize in vegetarian and vegan food”? Lastly, a number ask me to point out that a good number of people who are vegetarian or vegan are not so because of their views on ‘animal ethics’. To this end providing data via your website does not put the data that we produce or wish to contribute to in the widest appropriate forum.
I hope this is helpful.
other college responses:
All souls college
The College does not admit undergraduate or graduate students except as Fellows of the College and would therefore not expect to be included in such a table. For information, you may wish to note that All Souls aims to meet the specific dietary requirements of all its members. Vegetarian and vegan options are routinely available at lunchtime and the Kitchen provides vegetarian and vegan meals as required by those attending dinner. I hope this is of help with your project.
BALLIOL COLLEGE
1. Do you routinely offer the option of vegetarian and vegan food in your college or hall? We offer one vegan option at either lunch or dinner every day and one vegetarian option when vegan is not on available. On Friday evening, we offer one vegetarian as well as one vegan option.
2. If you do, can you supply a sample of the usual menu you provide? I have highlighted the vegan and vegetarian food in Green.
3. Do you have a chef that is trained in cooking vegetarian and vegan food? My second chef and I have a keen interest in vegetarian food. All our vegetarian recipes have been developed in our kitchen and we in turn train our chefs in-house.
brasenose college
No response received.
BLACKFRIARS HALL
Thank you for you email. Blackfriars Hall does not provide meals in Hall for students. Instead, we have arrangements with St Benet’s and Regent’s Park for our students.
campion hall
No response received.
christ church
No response received.
corpus christi college
No response received.
exeter college
No response received.
green templeton college
No response received.
harris manchester COLLEGE
My understanding is that you are in receipt of a collective response from the College’s Domestic Bursars committee on this matter.
hertford college
No response received.
jesus college
No response received.
keble college
No response received.
kellogg college
No response received.
lady margaret hall
1. Do you routinely offer the option of vegetarian and vegan food in your college or hall? Vegetarian options always available, vegan not by routine but often
2. If you do, can you supply a sample of the usual menu you provide? Menu for this week in Hall attached [See Sample Menu Page].
3. Do you have a chef that is trained in cooking vegetarian and vegan food? None of our current brigade have a certificate or diploma specifically in vegetarian options, although that’s not how I would generally expect chef’s to learn. Several of our team have good experience in cooking imaginative dishes that don’t include meat as an ingredient. Look forward to seeing the results of your research.
linacre college
1. Do you routinely offer the option of vegetarian and vegan food in your college or hall? Yes, 2 out of 5 options at each sitting are vegetarian, one of which is vegan.
2. If you do, can you supply a sample of the usual menu you provide? We have an enormous number of veg menus– stuffed courgettes, stuffed peppers, Aubergine bake, pasta dishes ….., veg or bean curries/chillies, veg risottos etc.
3. Do you have a chef that is trained in cooking vegetarian and vegan food? Chefs are not specifically trained in veg or vegan cooking. In term time we have ‘Meat Free Fridays’ for the evening meal – so all vegetarian with 2 of the 5 choices vegan
lincoln college
No response received.
MAGDALEN COLLEGE
No response received.
MANSFIELD COLLEGE
Thank you for your enquiry. We believe that we take vegetarian cooking very seriously, and the feedback that I receive from vegetarian Fellows, staff, students, conference guests and visitors is extremely positive about both the variety and quality of our menus. I would, however, be very interested to receive your views following this survey. Perhaps you or others from your group would like to come to lunch one day to make up your own minds?
With regard to your specific questions – please see below.
1. Do you routinely offer the option of vegetarian and vegan food in your college or hall?
There are always vegetarian options at every meal. For a term time student or high table lunch and dinner we provide two vegetarian options; in vacations one. (The non-vegetarian options are similarly restricted in vacations.) Vegan options are provided on request. For a formal hall there is a set menu – one vegetarian (and/or vegan if requested) and one non-vegetarian.
2. If you do, can you supply a sample of the usual menu you provide?
There is no ‘usual’ – Here are some current/recent examples from a student/high table lunch (there being no difference between the two), and here are some recent formal hall main course menus. [See Sample Menu Page]
3. Do you have a chef that is trained in cooking vegetarian and vegan food?
The head chef is fully trained in vegetarian cooking having been on several specialist courses. All other chefs have then been trained to prepare vegetarian meals using the experience of the head chef.
merton college
No response received.
new college
No response received.
nuffield college
No response received.
oriel college
1. Do you routinely offer the option of vegetarian and vegan food in your college or hall? YES
2. If you do, can you supply a sample of the usual menu you provide? Attached [See Sample Menu Page]
3. Do you have a chef that is trained in cooking vegetarian and vegan food? All chefs are trained to cook.
pembroke college
No response received.
THE queen's college
I am convinced that you would have received a response from the Chair of the Domestic Bursars' Committee. We collaborated on a response to this question and that stands. If you did not realise that I had “signed-up” to that response please do consider it so. If you did not receive a message from him, please do let me know.
regent's park college
No response received.
somerville college
No response received.
st. anne's college
No response received.
st. antony's college
No response received.
st. benet's hall
No response received.
st. catherine's college
1. Do you routinely offer the option of vegetarian and vegan food in your college or hall? We have a vegetarian option at all meals, both in Hall and in SCR.
2. If you do, can you supply a sample of the usual menu you provide? Your initiative has appealed to our chef. Menus for the current week attached showing vegan provision. [See Sample Menu Page]
3. Do you have a chef that is trained in cooking vegetarian and vegan food? All our chefs are trained in cooking across the full range of the meals we supply.
st. cross college
No response received.
ST. edmund hall
I understand from the Chair of the Domestic Bursars Committee that a joint response was sent on the 5th October.
st. hilda's college
No response received.
st. hugh's college
No response received.
st. john's college
No response received.
st. peter's college
No response received.
ST. STEPHEN'S HOUSE
1. Do you routinely offer the option of vegetarian and vegan food in your college or hall? Yes.
2. If you do, can you supply a sample of the usual menu you provide? Not supplied.
3. Do you have a chef that is trained in cooking vegetarian and vegan food? We do have a chef trained in vegetarian food.
trinity college
No response received.
university college
No response received.
wadham college
Thank you for your e-mail. You received a collective response on 5th October from the Chair of the Domestic Bursars’ Committee. I confirm this collective response was on behalf of Wadham.
wolfson college
No response received.
worcester college
No response received.
wycliffe hall
1. Do you routinely offer the option of vegetarian and vegan food in your college or hall? Yes.
2. If you do, can you supply a sample of the usual menu you provide? The menu for this week is attached [See Sample Menu Page]
3. Do you have a chef that is trained in cooking vegetarian and vegan food? We outsource out catering to Wilson Vale Catering Ltd. Therefore, I do not necessarily know what training the chefs have received.