Tree Court cook me gourmet meals every night because I’m vegan

When choosing accommodation, I asked for a self-catered, en-suite and quiet hall that was located in Fallowfield.

What was I allocated? Yep you guessed it – Tree Court, Owens Park.  At first, I dreaded it. What was I going to do? A vegan in a catered hall at university is unheard of. I was pretty sure this was not going to end well.

For me, my future could have only gone one of two ways – I would end up morbidly obese eating nothing but pasta, rice, bread and Oreos (yes, they’re vegan) or I would die of starvation. I frantically looked up kitchen sizes in Owens Park and it didn’t take me long to realise I had been allocated the tiniest one. I wasn’t allowed my own blender, a slow cooker or a fridge – my life was practically over.

When I announced my dietary requirements the first lady who saw me looked absolutely baffled. She had no idea what I was talking about.  Skeptically, she glanced at the meat and proceeded to point to the fish and ask me if I could eat that. Looking at the dinner options, I soon realised my choices were extremely limited.

The warm section looked like a no-go.  But an angel came to my rescue, clothed in white, greasy overalls. Seven minutes later, I was in heaven. The cook had whisked me up a fantastic vegan chilli con carne. My flatmates were surprised – and a lil’ bit jealous.

While everyone else is stuck with standard school-dinner food,  they’ve made me chickpea curry, mushroom stroganoff, red peppers stuffed with quinoa and vegan pasta bakes.

The OP chef doesn’t mind cooking up the special meals. She said: “It’s not annoying. It’s only a problem if you don’t show up and we’ve made something especially for you.

“Although there’s only one vegan in Tree Court, I’ve cooked for quite a lot of them before. Loads of people have special dietary requirements like lactose or gluten free diets, so we have to accommodate for those.”

I have been treated like a princess here. Dinner is the highlight of my day.

Some of my flatmates have even decided to go vegan for a week just to get the special service.