Vegan at St Andrews University

I am vegan, and really want to go to St. Andrews. When I visited I fell in love with the older accommodation i.e. St salvators without realising that they won't cater for vegans. Does anyone know how vegan friendly the food is, if I could just skip the few meals that I couldn't find anything? And how vegan friendly St. Andrews is in general?

Reply 1

ElizabethRG

9

Original post by YorkshireLeaver

I am vegan, and really want to go to St. Andrews. When I visited I fell in love with the older accommodation i.e. St salvators without realising that they won't cater for vegans. Does anyone know how vegan friendly the food is, if I could just skip the few meals that I couldn't find anything? And how vegan friendly St. Andrews is in general?

Well, if you can live off of potatoes and overcooked broccoli and carrots, you'd be ok in halls…

In all seriousness, catered halls aren't great if you want to eat a certain way. There are usually vegetarian options, but often those have egg or milk products in them. I lived in Sallies, and we got very limited fruits and vegetables. Breakfasts were cereal, bacon/sausage/egg, or pastries, and lunch and dinner were meat, veg, and potatoes. I had a few friends in first year who were vegetarian; both ended up eating some meat and fish because they got sick of daily stuffed peppers and potatoes. Plus kitchens in Sallies, Macintosh, etc. are so tiny and filthy, you don't want to be cooking in there too much. You'd be better off going to self catered, though keep in mind you'd have to share a kitchen with non-vegans. Also keep in mind that the small, pretty halls are very difficult to get into, so it may be a non-issue.

As far as I'm aware, there's only two cafes in St A that have vegan food (Taste and Zest), and the tesco is quite small with limited options. The Morrisons or M&S might have more options for you.

Reply 2

YorkshireLeaver

OP

Thanks. I think I might just apply for Albany park then, it just seems a bit run down and very far away from the science park, also I'm worried it doesn't really have a community unlike the older halls.
St. Andrews doesn't sound that vegan friendly, but I fell in love with the uni so will just have to put up with it.

Reply 3

¡Muy bien!

14

Hi there! I'm vegetarian, and out of our flat of 5, we are 3 vegetarians. The other 2 don't cook so we basically have a vegetarian kitchen. Were self catered, and i wouldn't choose catered hall because of how little I'd eat of what's offered. There are some other disadvantages as well to catered halls.

The vegetarian society organises meals that mostly contain vegan food. These meals are quite popular, but don't happen often so won't really solve your problem. Ik there's a big variety of quorn in morrisons. Not sure about vegan stuff though.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 4

viddy9

16

Original post by YorkshireLeaver

Thanks. I think I might just apply for Albany park then, it just seems a bit run down and very far away from the science park, also I'm worried it doesn't really have a community unlike the older halls.
St. Andrews doesn't sound that vegan friendly, but I fell in love with the uni so will just have to put up with it.

I'm self-catered (in DRA) and most of the meals I cook are vegan, though I have ~2 servings of dairy a day. Morrisons and Tesco have vegan burgers, including Quorn's vegan products. And obviously there's plenty of fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes and beans, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils. The Italian restaurant Zizzi's in St Andrews does vegan pizzas and starters, as they do across the country. The local Indian restaurants will of course have plenty of vegan options.

I don't know what it's like in catered accommodation, but I know that they don't specifically cater for vegans, though some of their food may be vegan by chance I guess. On my application to accommodation I was able to put down that I was vegan (which I was at the time), but again they don't specifically cater for vegans in catered accommodation as far as I'm aware.

The Vegetarian and Vegan Society is very vegan-friendly, and do meals every Sunday night.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5

Elinen

1

Original post by ElizabethRG

Well, if you can live off of potatoes and overcooked broccoli and carrots, you'd be ok in halls…

In all seriousness, catered halls aren't great if you want to eat a certain way. There are usually vegetarian options, but often those have egg or milk products in them. I lived in Sallies, and we got very limited fruits and vegetables. Breakfasts were cereal, bacon/sausage/egg, or pastries, and lunch and dinner were meat, veg, and potatoes. I had a few friends in first year who were vegetarian; both ended up eating some meat and fish because they got sick of daily stuffed peppers and potatoes.

This description is pretty accurate, but I still managed fine as a vegetarian in St Salvator's, although I could have done with a little less stuffed peppers... There is a vegetarian alternative for every meal, no exceptions. Catered halls do not officially cater for vegan diets. However, at least in my year, there were a few vegans that had arranged there was always a special vegan meal for them. I don't know if they were able to arrange this before being allocated, but it might be worth it to ask the accommodation team about it.

If you are going to cook for yourself, Holland & Barrett also has a variety of vegan products.
I don't think St Andrews is a particularly bad place to be a vegan, although I imagine it is always easier in a big city.

Vegan at St Andrews University

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