The Vegetarian Club raises awareness of the virtues of meatless eating through club activities like the "Be Vegan For a Day" event which took place at Paly, Friday.

The club, founded by seniors Remy Champion and Kristen Barta, strives to raise student awareness of the cruelty toward animals during the production of animal products and the appeal of a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Last Friday, the club handed out food devoid of any animal products as a part of the "Be Vegan For a Day" event. "I want to show people that vegan food isn’t weird or hard to live with," Champion said.

The club offered food both before school and during lunch. Before school, there were scones, muffins and vegan margarine. "Everything is better with vegan margarine," senior Dora Friedman, who helped at the event, said.

For lunch there was a larger array of vegan food, including tofu, cookies, salad with dairy-less dressing, pot stickers and chips with guacamole. A large line formed on the quad as people waited to fill their plates with animal-friendly food. From the size of the line, Paly appeared to have more vegans than one might have expected, or perhaps just more moochers.

"The food wasn’t bad, but I definitely wouldn’t want to eat it every day," junior Wesley Kerman said. This attitude reflects the general consensus on the quad Friday. For vegans like Champion, however, the taste is far from intolerable. "I’ve been a vegetarian since second grade and a vegan since eighth," Champion said.

The Vegetarian Club raised money for the event by running a bake sale in November.

In addition to leading vegan-related events at Paly, the club also orchestrates other services. Last year they bought supplies for Palo Alto Wildlife Rescue. As a part of their support of the non-meat diet, they passed out "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals" (PETA) brochures that advocated various aspects of that diet. Among these were "What’s Fishy About Seafood?", "From Shell to Hell" and "What’s Wrong With Turkeys?"

In spite of the efforts made by the Vegetarian Club, not all students are convinced. "Plants are still living organisms that we kill for food," junior Arturo Dirzo said. "Killing living things is all the same, regardless of what
kingdom they belong to."

"I’ve considered becoming a vegetarian," sophomore Meghan Ross said. "I think it’s great for the people who are doing it. I just don’t have enough will power."

For anyone curious about the Vegetarian Club, or for anyone who thought that the vegans were just an alien race in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the club meets on Wednesdays in room P2. According to Champion, the meetings are irregular, so be sure to pay attention to the announcements on In Focus.