The infamous Los Angeles Unified School District lunch menu lacks a lot more than just flavor. Vegetarian students are not able to enjoy the provided school meals.

Students who have adopted the vegetarian diet seem to be unable to eat food from the cafeteria on most days. The lack of vegetarian options prevents certain students from eating at school. Whether health or a lifestyle choice is the reason for the diet, a meal should be available for everyone.

Many other school districts in California, such as Oakland Unified School District have vegetarian options. According to todaysdietitian.com, all the schools in that district offer options such as vegetarian burgers and yogurt on a daily basis. The package in which some vegetarian foods come in has a “v” to indicate that they are vegetarian.

Tostada salads and burritos are the only available vegetarian options that food service manager Katherine Mrasz, listed. These two options are not enough, especially to only be served once a week and sometimes not at all. There are about three vegetarian options versus all the variety of food non-vegetarian students can pick from.

“There’s already vegetarian Mondays sometimes,” Mrasz said. “That’s all they (the district) have. It would be served like the other lunches.”

While there is a need for vegetarian options, there is also the concern of costs for the food. The costs of additional vegetables may be overwhelming for LAUSD, which is understandable. An alternative to having to provide all students with vegetarian options could be the including of an option for vegetarian foods in the food applications. Only those who apply for vegetarian food would be able to receive those meals.

Birmingham Community Charter High School sophomore Jonathan Muñoz, explains that there are vegetarian options available every day at his school. Their vegetarian options, which include veggie burgers and wraps, are available with the regular meal plan. The prices range from free to $3. Different dietary accommodations are made at that school so that no student is left hungry.

LAUSD needs to make sure every student gets to eat a full meal at school every day. Many vegetarian students go without eating lunch on most days because all they have available to them are foods that contains meat.

Many neighboring school districts offer adequate lunch menus in which all students have the opportunity to eat every single day.

Our district should offer us the same.