UCONN Wins Top Honors with Vegan Crab Cakes

The National Group of Collegiate Food Providers recently selected the University of Connecticut’s dining services as the gold medal winner for its “Not So Crabby Cakes” with rémoulade sauce. The vegan crab cakes—made with hearts of palm, Hampton Creek’s vegan mayonnaise, red bell pepper, green onions, whole grain mustard, lemon juice, and seasonings—were first served as part of an “Animal Friendly Thanksgiving” on campus last year and generated enough buzz to be submitted in this year’s contest. A statement from the university’s dining services explained, “We have always been very proud of our vegan program at UConn and have seen a steady increase in consumption of vegan dishes on campus. We have about 12,000 recipes in our Food Pro database and about 20 percent are vegan.” The university serves vegan food at all of its dining halls and restaurants and joins a growing group of schools—including University of Maine and College of Charleston in South Carolina—that provide animal-free alternatives to its student bodies.