For students with religious dietary restrictions living on ASU’s smaller, metro Phoenix campuses, navigating dining halls presents an insurmountable challenge.
On the Tempe campus, kosher-keeping students have two on-campus options for their meals: the Kosher Bistro in the Hassayampa dining hall and Chick-In Kosher Kitchen Station in the Tooker dining hall. In observance of Shabbat, these establishments are closed from Friday evening and all of Saturday. Students looking for food on Friday evening can attend Shabbat dinners at Hillel Jewish Student Center, Chabad at ASU and Olami ASU.
The amount of accessible kosher food decreases dramatically on ASU’s three other main campuses. The only options consistently available on the Downtown Phoenix, Polytechnic and West campuses are frozen packaged foods in the P.O.D. Markets. Students on these campuses do not have direct access to fresh kosher meals, which makes keeping kosher with a meal plan virtually impossible.
Forty-one percent of all packaged food in the United States is kosher certified, which adds some variety to foods kosher-keeping students can eat on campus; however, students with a meal plan cannot subsist on only packaged foods.
As a kosher-keeping freshman student living in on-campus housing in downtown Phoenix, I do not have access to kosher food in the dining halls nor do I have a kitchen in which I can prepare meals. Thankfully, ASU allows students to request an exemption from their meal plans, which is required for all first-year students living on-campus. Among the reasons for the exemption requests, religious dietary restrictions are given as an option.
The University’s acknowledgment of these special dining circumstances is encouraging, but more can be done. If kosher and halal-inclusive dining is expanded beyond Tempe, perhaps fewer students would feel the need to file for a meal plan exemption.
In 2018, after the launch of Hassayampa’s Kosher Bistro, the University stated that it was researching kosher dining options for its three other main campuses. Nearly five years later, ASU still lacks fresh kosher options in dining halls outside of Tempe.
Following the opening of the Kosher Bistro, Aramark, the company contracted with the University to supply dining halls, piloted a program to deliver hot "grab and go" meals produced from the bistro to dining halls on the other campuses. However, due to a lack of participation, the pilot was put on pause, a University spokesperson said in an email.
"There isn’t any designated kosher dining for students on the Polytechnic campus. At most, one could eat 'kosher-style' in our dining hall," said Harrison LaBell, a freshman majoring in engineering. "I think that variety in dining choices is important and students should have access to more kosher options."
Despite the current lack of kosher options, the University is working to be inclusive of kosher-keeping students outside of Tempe.
"As student enrollment increases at West and Poly, Aramark and the University will continue to adjust based upon increased demand. Aramark will meet with any student to assist them with their dietary needs and determine a plan of action," the ASU spokesperson said.
For students who still do not feel they have enough access to kosher food on their campus, ASU's Jewish student organizations are accessible to all students via car, light rail or shuttle. They provide kosher food and other resources on how to adhere to a kosher diet for students who do not live on the Tempe campus. Hillel Jewish Student Center has released detailed information on kosher eateries available around the Valley.
As the holiday of Passover (Pesach) quickly approaches, Jewish students will be able to observe the holiday's additional dietary restrictions relatively easily … on the Tempe campus, that is.
Matzo and other kosher options will also be readily available in the Tempe dining halls during the holiday. P.O.D markets will stock additional kosher for passover items based on demand. Chabad at ASU has also put together a free Passover meal plan and is helping students sell their chametz. Hillel Jewish Student Center will also be holding Passover programming.
During Passover, the variety of grab-and-go certified kosher items on all campus P.OD. markets is "increased in the markets based upon demand," the ASU spokesperson said.
Passover festivities can be attended by students from all campuses. Unfortunately, for students outside of Tempe, figuring out transportation can discourage them from taking advantage of these resources.
Muslim students observing the holy month of Ramadan, which began on March 22, in which individuals fast from sunrise to sunset for the duration of the month, will have more support from the dining halls as their holiday begins. Halal chicken, along with other halal-certified options, will be available in dining halls across all four campuses.
Unfortunately, this is one of the only times of the year that Muslim students will have consistent access to halal meat as not all animal meat in the dining halls is halal-approved. However, the University does offer access to Midamar halal products at on-campus P.O.D. Markets.
Restaurants such as The Halal Guys and Doner Dudes are within walking distance and offer halal food. ASU’s Muslim Students' Association has also released a list of halal dining options on or near campus.
Additionally, some Muslim students may choose to eat meat slaughtered by "People of the Book," namely Jewish and Christian people. While many eat meat in this manner, others eat zabiha meat, which must be slaughtered by a Muslim or Believing Ahlul Kitab.
"In terms of meat, I eat halal. Friends of mine who eat zabiha have a more difficult time finding dining options that work for them. Some just have to eat vegetarian or pescatarian," said Aisha Sadaat, a freshman in medical studies on the Downtown campus. "There is minimal signage in dining halls indicating whether food is halal or not, and the answers I get from staff are inconsistent."
ASU is home to around 3,500 Jewish students and 8,000 Muslim students, faculty and staff. Regardless of how strictly students adhere to the diets of their respective religions, expanded dining options allow students to feel comfortable and included in campus life.
With the allowance of meal plan exemptions and the inclusion of kosher and halal dining options on or near the Tempe campus, the University is already making strides to accommodate students with religious dietary restrictions.
If the three other main campuses receive the same treatment as Tempe, ASU will open its doors to students of all religious practices, setting an example for all universities on how inclusive dining options allow all students to thrive.
Edited by Kate Duffy, Jasmine Kabiri, Anusha Natarajan and Grace Copperthite.
Reach the columnist at sgkrantz@asu.edu and follow @selma_krantz on Twitter.
Editor's note: The opinions presented in this column are the author's and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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