California, especially Berkeley, is often known to cater to the vegetarians, the vegans and the health-conscious of the world. With so many organic only, locally grown produce and vegetarian restaurants in Berkeley, I’m not really surprised. If you just take a stroll through downtown Berkeley, you’ll encounter Sliver Pizzeria, CinnaholicSaturn Cafe, Café Gratitude, Gather and much more.

vegetarian

Photo by Jocelyn Hsu

With all the vegetarian restaurants you see in Berkeley, it’s no surprise that GrubHub’s data ranks Cal among the “Best Campuses for Vegetarians” which is determined by percentage of menu items featuring phrases like vegetarian, vegan, tofu and no meat. However, at #12  with 3% available menu items that are vegetarian, we’re not ranked very high for a place that’s known for being vegetarian-friendly.

BEST CAMPUSES FOR VEGETARIANS 

  1. University of Washington
  2. University of San Francisco
  3. Occidental College
  4. Harvard University
  5. University of Illinois
  6. Columbia College
  7. San Francisco State University
  8. Spelman College
  9. Lesley University
  10. Harvard Business School
  11. Roosevelt University
  12. University of California – Berkeley
  13. University of Oregon
  14. Emory University

Yet, it seems that UC Berkeley’s students don’t seem to care for these vegetarian eats. According to GrubHub’s college study, Cal doesn’t even break Top 15 for “Most Vegetarians” which is determined by orders featuring vegetarian or vegan dishes. Cornell University and Yale University take the cake with 6% of orders are vegetarian/vegan.

MOST VEGETARIANS

  1. Cornell University
  2. Yale University
  3. School of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. University of Chicago – Booth School of Business
  5. Columbia College
  6. Occidental College
  7. Lake Forest College
  8. The University of Chicago
  9. University of Virginia
  10. Brandeis University
vegetarian

Photo by Jocelyn Hsu

Instead, UC Berkeley students rank for “Most Meat-Eaters” at #9 with 65% of all orders containing meat. Shocking, huh?

MOST MEAT-EATERS

  1. Fordham University
  2. Lafayette College
  3. University of the Sciences
  4. University of North Carolina
  5. University of Northern Iowa
  6. University of Michigan
  7. Boise State University
  8. John Hopkins University
  9. University of California – Berkeley
  10. Loyola University of Maryland

I was certainly shocked, but then I thought about it a bit more. Maybe the vegetarian and health-conscious Berkeley population is cooking for themselves, or maybe they never realized that GrubHub restaurants offer vegetarian options as well. That’s a fair assumption. After all, the most-ordered dishes by college students include the likes of pizza, chicken wings, burgers and General Tso’s chicken.

Enter to win a full year of GrubHub here, and then order from every takeout place possible, and report back.