Vegetarian Star

New evidence that Americans are interested in eating less meat or adopting a plant-based diet has appeared in one of America’s favorite pastimes, baseball.

Fifth Third Ballpark, located in Comstock Park, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids and home to the minor league baseball team West Michigan Whitecaps, is adding a veggie and hummus plate to its concession stand menu called “Chicks With Sticks.”

The dish beat out the meaty “Lollipop Bologna,” “Duck Frog Hot Dog” and “The Meat Salad” in a vote by Whitecaps fans.

The “sticks” are the freshly cut veggies like carrots and celery while the “chicks” portion of the item was derived from the fact hummus is made from chickpeas.

In January, Whitecaps officials asked the public for new food ideas. The finalists were chosen and the public began voting in February. Chicks with Sticks was pitched by a fan who was used to eating hummus with pita, but after joining Weight Watchers, decided to lighten it up even further by replacing the bread with lower carb vegetables.

The dish is a healthy welcome from 2009’s winner–a $20 burger with 5/3 pounds of beef (for Fifth Third) with almost 5,000 calories, 300 grams of fat, 744 milligrams of cholesterol and more than 10,000 milligrams of sodium. That’s a strikeout for everyone’s health no matter who they’re rooting for.

The ballpark offers other veg friendly items, some healthier than others. There are wraps, veggie burgers, fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and macaroni and cheese.

The Chicks With Sticks will debut during the Whitecap’s first home game on April 10.

Photo: Larry Pieniazek/Creative Commons

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