Hello to the new, current, and future students of Thompson Rivers University! Today Ivan and I will guide you through our little food excursion around TRU.
I, Alejandra, have been studying at TRU for three years and a half, and this semester I met Ivan in one of my classes. Last week he told me he’s an exchange student from Colombia and that he´s a vegetarian! I found this quite surprising because Colombia is known for their delicious meals (which are mainly meat based) and the famous bandeja paisa.
Nonetheless, I asked him if he knew about the several vegetarian options he could find around campus and he didn’t! That was the perfect opportunity to show him all these choices at TRU. Hopefully, this blog will be of great help for all the veggie lover students out there!
Our first stop was the DELI at U&M, which you can easily notice due to the bright green wall that has the deli´s logo and the colorful daily specials chalkboard. This particular deli is perfect if you´re in a hurry; here you can enjoy a delicious middle eastern falafel, a tasty veggie samosa or Ivan´s favorite…couscous!
If you´re in the mood for sushi, a few steps away you can find the Upper Level Café. This café offers quite a few vegetarian sushi options, and let us tell you that they are absolutely amazing! Besides sushi they also offer hot rice and noodle bowls; if you´re feeling a little bit fruity they have fruit salads and yogurt parfaits.
After visiting the two places at Old Main, I took Ivan to the Campus Activity Centre. The main spot I wanted to show him was the Urban Market. In this market, you can find a mesmerizing salad bar (called Chop N Top) where the students choose the ingredients and make their own salad or wrap. How cool is that?! If you want a more laidback option, you can also try the cheese or garden pizza.
Right next to the Urban Market, you can find The Den. When we looked at the menu, I told Ivan it now includes more vegetarian options, so if you´re looking for a place where you can sit down with friends and enjoy a drink as well, this is the place for you!
For the grand finale, we had to wait for Wednesday, but it was totally worth it. Our last stop was the ESTRs Market, which is located on the second floor of Old Main. Besides selling handmade crafts, the market also offers a variety of vegetarian products. For instance, they sell apple pies, quinoa salads, banana bread (which we loved!), but the real showstoppers are the soups. We tried out the Brazilian black bean soup with a cheese biscuit and we rolled our eyes from how good it was! Honestly, it doesn’t matter if you´re a vegetarian or not, those soups are a MUST!
As we concluded our adventure, we realized the university allows veggie students the opportunity to feel included in any place they decide to eat. Now you have no excuses, if you´re a vegetarian student thinking of coming to this university, just come and live your best TRU experience! If you´re a new veggie student on campus, hopefully now you know all the options you can enjoy. I know Ivan certainly loved them all!
