On Feb. 24, GCSU students and faculty attended Vegan Fest to learn about the benefits of veganism and aspects of the Jainism religion with an open buffet featuring plant-based foods catered by Sodexo.
This event was created as a way for the community at GCSU to learn about the environmental benefits of veganism and share plant-based foods such as seitan cutlets, Indian stir-fried rice, vegan stuffed grape leaves (dolmades), pita bread, hummus and vegan chocolate chip cookies.
The event was sponsored by GCSU’s Jain Studies Program, the Department of Philosophy, the Religion & Interdisciplinary Studies Program and the Rural Studies Institute.
Sunita Manian, the chair of the philosophy, religion and liberal studies departments, organized the event because she wanted to raise awareness and cultural understanding in the GCSU community about different practices surrounding food and its place in various lifestyles and religions.
“[It is important for a liberal arts education] to know about different ways of living [and] different religions — not because you want to become that, because that’s not the point — but to have a broad-based understanding of different perspectives of the world,” Manian said. “This would be one of the many perspectives I would love for students to know about.”
Caley Smith, assistant professor of religious studies, and Mark Causey, senior lecturer of philosophy and religious studies, spoke about the non-violent, or Ahimsa, concepts of Jain traditions and veganism’s role in sustainability.
According to Smith, Jainism is an Indian religion dedicated to teaching a path to spiritual purity through non-violence to all living creatures. Jainists believe that every living thing has a soul, and by consuming these beings, karma is released, which clouds the soul and keeps it from enlightenment. As a result, Jainists try to minimize their consumption of living creatures by only eating plant-based foods.
According to Causey, veganism is a philosophy and lifestyle that seeks to reject, as much as possible, the exploitation and cruelty of animals for food and clothing. The vegan lifestyle aims to be more ecologically friendly by reducing the environmental effects caused by the meat industry.
“To produce one pound of meat, we are using 16 pounds of food grains, so we are using a lot of land to produce food to produce meat,” Manian said.
Leah Bartleson, a junior environmental science major, has been a vegetarian for six years. She became a vegetarian after reading a book in middle school titled “Chew On This: Everything You Don’t Want To Know About Fast Food,” by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson, which she said brought to light some of the dark secrets of factory farming.
“I think everyone should try it or at least be ‘flexitarian’ and educate themselves on the harmful effects of meat factories and what it does to the environment and the ethics of it, and should try to eat less meat,” Bartleson said.
Sodexo urges students to fill out feedback forms if they would like to see more vegan options on the menu or other diet types. The feedback form can be found at Sodexo’s website: https://georgiacollege.sodexomyway.com.
GCSU’s Vegan Fest began as a free dinner in April of 2025 to introduce students to veganism and Jainism, and has since become an annual campus tradition, with the next Vegan Fest scheduled for spring 2027.