Google to Offer More Plant-Based Options to Employees

Menus at Mountain View’s Googleplex were recently revamped to include more plant-based options. Michiel Bakker, director of the Global Food Program at Google and board member of Menus for Change—a collaborative network of food professionals working to implement sustainable food choices—believes that “a more balanced, plant-centric diet is good for the environment and is good for your health.” In June, Bakker began educating chefs about how to make vegetable substitutions without making Google employees feel like they’re missing anything, saying “there’s a way to grill cauliflower that gives it some of the same rich flavor found in grilled meats.” Menus vary but every café on campus has vegetarian (and often vegan) options like the pickled nectarine, shiso, and edamame maki at Kitchen Sync; cashew eggplant roulade at Slice Cafe; Beyond Chicken dishes at Crave Cafe; and the all-vegetarian Indian menu on Tuesdays at popular dinner restaurant, Baadal Cafe. While menus at the Googleplex aren’t completely meat-free, Bakker says that “if we can move more people to eat less meat and to enjoy more vegetables, the rest will follow.”