Cornell University has adopted a project to partially replace burger meat with ground-up mushrooms. The school’s director of nutrition management refers to the initiative as a “stealth” approach at “deemphasizing” students from eating meat, implying that the Ivy League students may not be aware of the added fungi and that eating decisions should be made for them.

Several dining locations on Cornell University’s campus have been replacing the meat in burger patties with ground-up mushrooms, as one of several initiatives aiming to “deemphasize meat” on campus, according to The Cornell Daily Sun.

“We’re always striving to make something plant-based,” said Cornell Dining’s director of nutrition management, Michele Lefebvre, to the school’s student newspaper, “For example, if we can make a soup kind of base using pureed cauliflower, we definitely aim to try and do that.”

Cornell Dining is currently collaborating with the “Blended Burger project” aimed at serving less beef by replacing it, in part, with ground-up mushrooms — an initiative that the nutrition director refers to as their “stealth” approach.

“Instead of just being completely plant-based, we just up the veggies,” said Lefebvre, “We’re increasing the amount of plant and decreasing the amount of [meat] — That’s kind of been our stealth way of approaching it.”

Lefebvre also argues that students can take part in helping the planet if they consider a change in eating habits and “shop around,” instead of just taking “everything or anything that looks good” when they enter the school’s dining facilities.

“That’s a great way of keeping portions under control and also a great way to reduce waste for those who care about sustainability and health as a planet,” said Lefebvre.

While the school’s website does house a video of Lefebvre speaking about her campus dining initiatives, it remains unclear if Cornell students are aware that their burgers are blended with mushrooms.

The Risley, Ivy Room, and Robert Purcell Community Center were noted as school’s dining locations blending burgers with fungi. A Google search of the university’s website for any mention of the “Blended Burger Project” did not display any results.

Cornell University did not respond to multiple requests by Breitbart News to comment and clarify as to whether or not students have the option to select burger patties that do not contain mushrooms in any of the mentioned dining centers.

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