McDaniel College Dining Joins Humane Society for Vegan Cooking Demo

In a move that supports McDaniel College’s participation in The Real Food Challenge, the Sodexo campus dining team recently partnered with The Humane Society on a vegan cooking demonstration.

Representatives from The Humane Society were Food Policy Manager Ken Botts, Food Policy and Chef Instructor Wanda White, and Senior Food & Nutrition Manager Ashley Rhinehart, RN.

"While we come to teach, we always learn and we learned that the dining team at McDaniel College is passionate about food and the students they serve - this has been an amazing experience for us," said Botts.

The day-long demo featured breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes during which Chef Wanda teamed with Sodexo Executive Chef José Montanez at McDaniel College who follows a whole plant based diet himself.

Montanez personally meets with the campus-based Compassionate Communities once a month to solicit student feedback.

Chef Wanda is a classically trained chef who helped The Humane Society of the United States create a two day plant-based chef training program. She consults with institutions and organizations around the United States on how to create healthy vegan menus.

McDaniel College was the second Maryland college to sign on to a pledge to purchase 20 percent "real food" by 2020. The Real Food Challenge, a student-led national movement, plans to shift $1 billion of the $5 billion colleges spend annually on processed and junk food to fair-trade and humane, sustainably produced foods.

The demonstration was so successful that McDaniel College Dining plans to become a site for vegan cooking training.