Pea curry, vegetable couscous, meatless chili, pea dahl, spelled and lentil tagine… Legumes, condiments and spices appear more and more frequently on students’ plates. After trial and error, university restaurants managed by the regional centers for university and school works (Crous) are about to find a way to offer one or even several vegetarian dishes every day. Its goal is to reach 30% of the supply in 2025.
After becoming fashionable, “vegetarian” cuisine has one virtue: reducing the carbon footprint. In Crous, the supply of red meat fell by 7% between 2022 and 2023 and, during this period, greenhouse gas emissions linked to the catering and accommodation activities of the twenty-six establishments in the network decreased by an average of 4. 5%.
At the Crous de l’Académie de Grenoble, the drop in emissions was 22%, a record that places the establishment in “carbon strategy demonstrator”according to Bénédicte Durand, president of Cnous, the national center that oversees the network. On the Saint-Martin-d’Hères campus, on the outskirts of Grenoble, the vegetarian offering has even exceeded demand in four restaurants and fifteen cafes where the activity is concentrated.
“We exceed student expectations.”welcomes the director of the Crous de Grenoble, Bénédicte Corvaisier. In 2019, we only had between 3% and 5% vegetarian supply for an estimated demand of 20% of students. Today we are at more than 30%. »
“At first it was hell”
It all started with the national operation “Green Monday”, launched in 2019 with a vegetarian dish every Monday. It was not without confrontations and controversies, especially when many students considered the amounts to be too small. “At first it was hell when the students came to eat and there was no meat left…” remembers the director. In this era, still very recent, “The vegetarian dish was chickpeas in a bowl of semolina.” it was necessary “re-enchant” the work of the cooks, developing quality in the recipes but also providing equipment to cook at low temperatures, and to “modernize this offer”resume Mme Corvasier.
After “Green Monday”, from 2022, all restaurants and cafes offer a vegetarian offer every day, from a full meal to a box of pasta, including panini and sandwiches. “Not long ago, processed vegetarian foods were more expensive than meat, which discouraged their use.analyzes Chloé Liboureau, agronomy student and activist of the student network for an ecological and supportive society. Many of the Crous chefs have been trained and now know how to prepare the dishes themselves, at a lower cost. »
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