Sweet-potato casserole. Cream-of-mushroom soup. Asian-sesame pasta.
The missing ingredient from these culinary masterpieces available at Penn?
Meat.
And that food group's absence from many Penn dining-hall dishes has earned the University a spot on a recent list released by the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The group named Penn the ninth-most vegetarian-friendly campus in the country.
The No. 1 spot went to Indiana University in Bloomington, while New York University, Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley also nabbed positions. Only 10 universities' meat-free offerings were honored.
This is the first ever PETA-organized survey to determine the quality of vegetarian and vegan college food. The winners were determined through online polls.
Penn's place on the list is a result of a long-term revamping effort by Penn Dining to get more vegetarian options on the menum, officials said.
"We take a large survey every semester that gives us good feedback," said Jenn Martin, a spokeswoman for Aramark, the food service company that contracts with Penn Dining. "We've made a concerted effort to increase the number of [vegetarian] items on our menu."
About 2,000 students and faculty responded to the last survey this month, and 26 percent answered that they ate vegetarian foods "at least part of the time."
That statistic is reflective of a nationwide trend: College students want vegetarian options in campus eateries.
Vegetarian mock-meats, such as Boca Burgers and soy nuggets, are now an industry worth at least $1 billion.
Large numbers of vegetarian students have forced Penn Dining to consider more diverse vegetarian options, Martin added.
To that end, Penn Dining instituted official veggie/vegan stations in on-campus dining halls last January.
Students can now choose from entrees like crispy tofu with pineapple chutney, fettucine with vegan alfredo, and vegan carrot cake with Tofutti cream-cheese frosting.
And on Thanksgiving, students chowed down on the traditional Butterball doppelganger: Tofurkey.
And it seems like these options were enough to move Penn toward the top of PETA's list.
The contest, organizers say, is a part of a nationwide marketing campaign to recognize schools that honor students' dietary needs, while at the same time targeting college kids in an effort to spread the word about vegetarianism.
"We look for consistent options in the dining halls that urge a healthy, humane lifestyle," PETA spokesman Pulin Modi said. "A vegetarian saves 100 animals a year from dying cruel deaths."
According to Modi, Penn students were extremely excited and involved in spreading the vegetarian gospel.
An Aramark survey reported that one in every four Penn students felt vegetarian options were important, whether due to ethical or health reasons.
"Penn recognizes there are people like us and try to help," Wharton sophomore and vegetarian Ravi Naresh said. "We need more options and variety, but I do like the veggie pizza."
