Youth Radio's Miriam Archibong became a vegetarian after dealing with illness in her family – both her grandfather and father struggled with diabetes. Concerned about her own health, she became convinced that cutting meat out of her diet would lead to a long life. She started a vegetarian club at her high school this year and one of their first orders of business was to petition her school to offer healthy, vegetarian options in the cafeteria. “For me," Miriam says, "eating cafeteria food was as forbidden as the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.”
With the support of the school principal, she worked with the food service provider to come up with alternative menus like tofu stirfry, veggie burgers, black beans and rice, and hummus. The school added a vegetarian line in the cafeteria- the first in the Atlanta Public Schools. Miriam never used to go to the cafeteria, but “for the first time in my high school career, I was a regular cafeteria customer.”
Photo Credit: Joe Hirsch, Youth Radio