Discovering the Student-Led Plant-Based Menu Initiative at ITMO

I initially heard about the plant-based menu on Chayka (which is Russian for seagull but also is the loving nickname of ITMO’s campus on Chaykovskogo St. 11/2) somewhere on the ITMO grapevine. After fruitless attempts to find out more about it online, I finally decided to take the not very long but still picturesque route from the Lomonosova campus to ITMO’s Faculty of Technological Management and Innovations, which resides on Chayka. 

Knowing that we tend to live by the maxim “go big or go home” here at ITMO, I have to admit that my expectations were relatively high. Or maybe it was my general disappointment accumulated over the years at various stolovayas, which rarely feature vegetarian or vegan dishes. The typical meal choices include several options of salads, most containing eggs, meat, or at least mayonnaise; meat-based soups; a variety of meaty main courses with several plant-based sides; and pastries.

As you can see, usually, if you are vegan, even if you are maybe trying to do one vegan day a week, you would either have to settle on side dishes or resort to always packing your own lunch. Not that I have anything against bringing home-cooked meals with me, but sometimes the whirlwind of tasks at uni gets you and grabbing a cafeteria meal can be a life-saver. 

All of that is to say that I was, at the very least, excited at the prospect of finally being represented, in a way, as I stepped into the small and welcoming cafeteria on Chaykovskogo St. I was met with a small display of meals with several salads, some six mains and sides, and some pastries at the end of the row. 

As I stepped to the counter, my attention was immediately caught by a selection of fruit salads – slices of melon, kiwi, pineapple, and banana in neat glasses. So far, so good. I grabbed a glass with definitely the first pineapple I had at a university so far.

Then came the main dishes section. After asking the lady behind the counter, I learned that I could pick from buckwheat with mushrooms and carrots and a plant-based plov with chickpeas, the latter earning additional protein points in my head. I eventually settled on buckwheat, which happened to be rather flavourful, with all ingredients pleasantly well-combined to deliver a hearty autumnal meal.

Even though the pineapple definitely was the highlight of my day, I couldn’t help but feel that what I saw wasn’t the whole story. From what I’d heard, I expected to see if not necessarily more options, then at least some tags pinpointing the vegan meals or some other info about the ongoing initiative. It was time to learn it straight from the horse’s mouth. 

Thanks to the extended network of the Internationalization Office, I was able to reach Ivan Timakhovich and Elina Monakhova from the Sustainable Development Club, who are the two minds behind the initiative. 

Driven by the goal to introduce plant-based alternatives to common meals at ITMO cafeterias, the students reached out to university officials, who supported the idea. As Elina admits, so far, it is only a fledgling project, which is why it functions primarily at ITMO’s Yagodnoe sports and leisure camp and the Chayka campus, with some plant-based meals also available at the Kronverksky building. 

When asked about the challenges faced in the process, Ivan mentions that so far they haven’t succeeded in introducing any plant-based desserts and have faced certain difficulties in establishing communication with the cafeteria staff. 

Learning about yet another group of ITMO students yearning to change the world for the better rounded up my Tuesday investigation quite nicely, even if not all of my expectations were met. More exciting things are yet to come, but for now we can rest assured that if any ITMO student were to crave some vegan lunch at any of the two participating campuses, they would leave happy and satisfied.

If you want to join more of ITMO’s eco initiatives, head over to the Sustainable Development Club and ITMO.Green, the environment gurus of the university.