Increasing the Number of Vegetarian Dishes in University Canteens: a Successful Experiment
Published on 26 September 2024
Photo credits: Dijon's CROUS
Since January 1, 2023, the Egalim law has required public establishments to offer a vegetarian-dish option on a daily basis.
As part of this dynamic, CROUS are aiming to achieve 50% vegetarian meals by 2030, but student acceptance remains an issue.
To assess this, some CSGA researchers conducted a ground-breaking experiment with the "CROUS de Dijon". The aim was to see whether serving twice as many vegetarian dishes would be well accepted by students.
The study was conducted in two two-week phases. First, 24% of main courses served were vegetarian, then this percentage rose to 48%, thanks to substitutions such as replacing Bolognese lasagne with vegetarian lasagne.
The results, based on sales analysis and over 18,000 satisfaction surveys, are encouraging: the choice of vegetarian dishes almost doubled, from 23% to 45%, with no impact on students' overall satisfaction or appreciation of the dishes. Only 6% of students noticed the change, of which they had not been previously informed. Increased service of vegetarian dishes has also reduced the carbon footprint of student choices by 21%.
However, a number of challenges remain, including nutritional quality and affordability. For example, replacing a chicken cutlet with a four-cheese pizza does not improve nutritional quality.
In conclusion, this study shows a positive acceptance of the increased service of vegetarian dishes, but substitutions between meat-based and vegetarian dishes should be worked on to improve nutritional quality and reduce costs. Dishes such as lentil dahl or chickpea curry, particularly appreciated by students during the experiment, could be favored in these substitutions.
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Effects of increasing the availability of vegetarian options on main meal choices, meal offer satisfaction and liking: A pre-post analysis in a French university cafeteria.
Arrazat L., Cambriels C., Le Noan C. et al. (2024).
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.