All the Goodness—Minus the Grease

First we wanted organic food. Then we demanded free range chicken eggs. And now what we absolutely, hands-down, must have are some mellow, meatless burgers.

Harvard herbivores are salivating at the prospect of a Cambridge version of Zen Burger, the latest vegetarian venture by the makers of the Zen Palate chain, which has been around since 1991. The restaurant provides meat-free versions of everyone’s McTasty favorites—but the only thing this place shares with Mickey D’s is a love of prefixes, offering items such as the ZenChicken Tenders and the ZenBeef Burger.

Hoping to turn their dreams into an organic, preservative-free reality, a number of students have rallied behind Harvard College Vegetarian Society (HCVS) president Jessica M. Luna ’10, a Crimson magazine writer, signing a petition that expresses their interest to the Harvard University Planning Office.

“There aren’t enough vegetarian options in Harvard Square,” says HCVS member and petition signer Lewis E. Bollard ’09, who is also a Crimson editorial columnist. “More college students are becoming vegetarian and...still like to eat healthy and environmentally sound food.”

The growing number of vegetarians have Harvard Law School student Lauren T. Ciacco to thank for the possibility of this meatless mecca.

“My campaign here has been to make it easier to be a vegetarian and to change people’s minds about what vegetarian foods can taste like,” says Ciacco, a member of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund. “Zen Burger is a great way to do that because it makes eating vegetarian tasty.”

While the petition currently has only 87 signatures, HCVS does not plan to ease up on this veggie crusade anytime soon. Without it, they’ll have to stick to d-hall vegan chick’n patties for the rest of their lives—not a pleasant prospect.