At first, plant-based meal nights were special events at UCSC, starting in early 2008. But this food "revolution" took hold during the 2009 Summer Orientation meal, served to more than 5,000 new UCSC students and their families. Then came the Office of Physical Education, Recreation & Sports (OPERS) Fest in the fall, featuring a "Real Food" menu designed to introduce students to plant-based local and organic dining without processed ingredients.

These meals were well-received at a campus that has long been associated with the sustainable food movement, in large part because of "the Farm," UCSC's agroecology training and research center.

Then the dining halls began to incorporate Meatless Monday Dinners rotating at each dining hall every week in the fall of 2009 in addition to a Beefless Day, when red meat vanished from the menus once a week at a selected dining hall. (Carnivores could still find fish and/or chicken on those Beefless Days.)

These menus, which focus on lower-carbon footprint dining, are part of a larger trend that includes local organics and direct, fair-trade coffees.

Now, the Meatless Monday Dinners have grown into once-a-week events. Vegans and vegetarians, or omnivores who want to cut down on their meat intake, can follow Meatless Monday Dinner or Beefless Days around from dining hall to dining hall.