LEAH GRAZIANO
Special to The Leader
You may have been wondering what happened to the Fenton Hall cafe.
It got a whole new look over the summer and it’s now called Sprout Cafe.
Sprout is a 100 percent plant-based cafe and is a brand-new dining option for vegetarian and vegan students.
“Before this year, there wasn’t a lot of places where we can go to eat so it’s super cool that we have someplace that sells foods specifically for us,” said Elayna Kinney, a senior psychology major.
Sprout acts just like the other FSA cafes where you can grab your lunch from the refrigerated section or ask for a snack from behind the glass.
“We wanted to be able to incorporate a plant-based menu into a unit so that you don’t have to ask. You knew that everything there would be considered plant-based,” said Darin Schulz, the executive director of Faculty Student Association.
The idea for an all plant-based cafe came to be when students suggested a way for other students to be able to have vegetarian and vegan food options.
“We had a food service advisory committee that routinely had at least five students that would come everytime we met, which was three times each semester, and we just kept hearing suggestions that they came up with,” Schulz said.
In the past, Fredonia students found it difficult to find these specific food options at dining halls. “When it came to having to seek those [options] out, you had to ask or you really had to look. It wasn’t necessarily easy to find,” said Schulz.
The plant-based foods come from FSA’s primary food distributor, Maplevale Farms, which is located in Falconer, N.Y.
Plans for Sprout started during the Spring 2018 semester. During this time, FSA worked to come up with an entirely plant-based menu.
Over the summer, they painted the old Fenton cafe green and Sprout opened up at the start of the Fall 2018 semester.
It features a two-week rotating menu with items such as grilled eggplant on an artisan roll, a plant-based breakfast sandwich and vegan chocolate chip cookies.
“We’re doing the Impossible Burger once every two weeks where it is actually a faux meat but it looks just like a burger,” said Schulz.
After the cafe closes, you’re able to find some of its food items at the Convenience Store in University Commons.
It is open Monday through Friday from 8:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.