For many in the Deerfield community, vegan brownies are a beloved dessert. But few know how this dessert, which was the first vegan dessert to be served to the entire Deerfield community, made its way onto the menu. The story of vegan brownies at the Academy is something faculty members remember fondly, sharing varying memories of how the brownies came into existence.
One origin story claims that the vegan brownie came from a former student. The student sought to bring awareness to the ethical and environmental impact of food. Throughout her Deerfield career, she attempted many times to start conversations about these types of food related issues. She also reached out to the Dining Hall on multiple occasions inquiring about the possibility of a vegan meal or dessert. Despite her passion and ambition for the subject, she encountered difficulty getting the community’s attention.
In the spring term of her senior year, she decided to apply for an internship at the dining hall to share vegan food with the Deerfield community. English Teacher Joel Thomas-Adams said that he remembered her decision to choose brownies as a vegan dessert since they were simple and easy to make. After perfecting her recipe, the dining hall made her brownies for the entire school without letting anyone know the brownies were vegan. After the dining hall served her brownies multiple times and they had developed a positive reputation, she revealed to the student body that they were vegan. Her goal was to both remove the stigma around vegan food and show that vegan food can also be delicious.
After working with the bakers and finalizing the vegan brownie recipe, the kitchen served the dessert at a walk-through lunch. Mr. McCarthy shared an insight from the kitchen staff ’s perspective, saying, “Some of the anticipation was, when the word vegan is in something,…it has sort of a negative connotation…but that didn’t happen in this case. People just ate them like crazy.” Mr. McCarthy noted that some decrease in the bias around vegan food and some increase in the awareness surrounding the ethics and environmental impact of food did occur, even if that wasn’t the brownies’ original purpose.
From the time the student (who the Scroll reached out to, but who did not respond to interview requests) embarked on her mission to create vegan brownies to now, the perspective towards veganism altered gradually where people tend to be more open about vegan desserts. Yet, the intention behind this vegan dessert brings to light the ethics behind food consumption in the light of climate change.
English Teacher Joel Thomas-Adams believes that much of the purpose of vegan brownies has been forgotten. He believes that in recent years, Deerfield Academy hasn’t made any significant effort to educate its student body on those food related topics, despite how Deerfield students, three times a day, walk across the fields when going to the Dining Hall. “Why aren’t we talking about climate change in our biology classes and our science classes every single day? Why aren’t we reading more about climate change?” he asked.
When thinking about the legacy of vegan brownies, students should contemplate “what we use in the dining hall and how we use it, and what we eat and how we eat it, where it comes from, asking that question,” Mr. Thomas-Adams said. The environmental justification for veganism may have been a significant factor that led the creation of the vegan brownies, but which has gradually disappeared into the school’s history.
“It is both the beauty of a place like this, but also one of its shortcomings, which is when somebody comes up with an idea…it can thrive,” Mr. Thomas-Adams said. The “beauty” was how the dining hall provided an environment for the student to promote her ideas. The “shortfalling” was how after the student who started the movement graduated, other students began to stray from the initial cause, slipping away the institutional consciousness.