Food.
Using your Eco-Reps lenses, and thinking about what Melissa and Kate had to say about dining services at UVM, what was one observation you made in the last two weeks regarding food systems on campus?
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 1:21 PM
28 Comments:
I found that the dining areas other than the dining halls such as the Market Place and the Marche are more vegan/vegetarian friendly than the dining halls. Although a vegetarian/vegan could definitely find a meal option in the dining halls, the options are much more limited. Also I noticed at the simpson dining hall that the garden burger and regular burgers were being cooked right next to each other on the same grill with the same spatula. I realize that some vegetarians may have a problem eating something that has come in contact with hamburger juice or other meat products.
One of the main things that I have noticed about food systems on campus is that a lot of students aren't wasteful because their eyes are bigger than their stomachs, they simply throw away a lot of food because it just doesn't taste good. I know that everyone has different preferences, but at Simpson students were repeatedly disposing of the same things, particularly a certain kind of pizza and the food in some weird chinese food box tray things. I think that the dining halls need to base the response to food as good or bad based on the waste, not by how much of it is taken, and a lot of food could be saved from the trash in the future.
I am amazed at the amount of food and packaging waste there is on campus. Eat-in places like Cook, Simpson and Harris Millis don't require any packaging for the food so really the only waste is leftover food. But in the Marche and Marketplace people get their food in to-go containers even if they're eating in. It might be easier to get students to consider the options if the chefs asked "for here or to go" more often. Dining services could greatly reduce the waste in the Marketplace and Marche if they encouraged eating in and using real plates and utensils.
I also noticed lots of contamination in the compost bins at the Marketplace. The signage is very simple and informative, I don't know how someone would get confused, but maybe they just don't care and throw their waste in the nearest bin. I'm glad I participated in the food waste weigh in, some people were very uninformed about what is compostable.
While working at the food waste weigh in at Simpson, I noticed that a lot of students were very wasteful because for some entrees they give you large servings of chicken with stuffing and potatoes and students, for those options could not choose their own serving size. In addition, there were many students that did not know what composting is. When I explained to them what composting is they stated that they would make an effort to do that from now on. On the other hand, I heard some students complaining "This is inconvenient" which, made me wonder if a lot of students only composted because we were there watching. Also, there were definitely vegetarian options, but as a vegan or vegetarian it would definitely be more appealing to eat at retail locations.
The degree and availability of composting along campus dining locations varied, which I thought was odd. For instance, in places such as Simpson Dining Hall, The Davis Center, and the Marche, compost is readily available and labeled, and in some instances the only option for disposal. This means every product is compostable making trash not even an option. But then there is Harris/Millis dining hall that not only has no compost but has no trash either, you jsut laod ALL waste and dishes onto the conveyer belt to go back to the kitchen. Whether or not waste is sorted back there is unknown, but if students get used to this system of not sorting it themselves, when they get to a location such as Davis or the Marche, they will have less experience with how to deal with waste and will not know what the right thing to do is. I think it is really useful how at the Davis center they have taped to the wall above each type of bin every possible type of trash that is sold and where it belongs, so there is no excuse for error.
I totally agree with what Kalyn said, I've realized that dining halls like Cook Commons and Harris/Millis have more areas designated for vegan and vegetarian options than the marketplace.The marketplace hasn't been offering the best insight on what is vegan or vegetarian also on where the food comes from. I think that could be a really big improvement especially since we want to stress that importance.
I also realized that the dining staff does care what we think. When i was taking the survey of the marketplace the dining services superviser approached me wondering what i was taking notes on. When i told him about the Eco-Reps interest in local foods in the dining halls he stressed that the locally grown produce isn't as accessible during the coming seasons, other than the root vegetables.
At Simpson Dining Hall the other day, I noticed the Compost sign above the compost bin had disappeared. I don't know how long it was gone (or why it wasn't there), but everyone composted their food anyway and it wasn't contaminated with trash! I was so proud of everyone. My friend suggested it was just because everyone who eats at Simpson regularly was in the habit of composting their leftovers before putting their plates on the conveyor belt. That is a wonderful thing. It would be nice if everyone composted because they care about the environment, but its unreasonable to expect everyone to care. But even if you don't really care about living green, you can still form green habits that become part of your daily repertoire. It is nice to see green habits becoming part of the mainstream with those who don't particularly care about the environment, like the popularity of compact fluorescent bulbs.
People seem better at sorting their waste in dining halls than they do in points-stores like the Marche. I wonder if this is because there is more packaging at take out stores, or if it does have something to do with the habit-building routine of how the dining halls are set up? I guess it is the extra packaging that complicates things-- after all, the marketplace has better signs labeling their trash, compost, and recycling, yet they always seem more contaminated than Simpson.
Anyway, about dining halls. I was pondering about the issue of students wasting food. Obviously, reducing consumption is the most eco-friendly option, but once you've taken a plate of food, if you can't finish it, isn't it *more* environmental to compost it than to force yourself to eat it? After all, compost will go back into the soil, while your poo will go into waste-treatment unless you have a composting toilet. I suppose the best option would be to save it for later. Over the summer, I carried a tupperware around at all times in case I wanted to save leftovers, but in dining halls it might not be an option... if you let students leave with food, they can leave with several meals instead of one and the university looses money. So until students learn to take smaller portions of food, or dining hall food tastes good enough that students can finish it all, there will always be the problem of waste.
I noticed just how much plastic is being used once and thrown away because of to-go food containers. So much food is packaged in plastics that could be packaged in compstable materials. On the go convenience places like Marche, and Davis Center use these where as Dining Halls use china and silver wear which are reused over and over. There is a plus to either side. While the dining hall used re usable place settings, it creates alot of food waste because people do not eat everything on their plate. The marche and Davis center probably do not create as much food waste because many people will buy one or two items for a meal and finish it all.
-Zoe Hoffman
When working at the food weigh in at Simpson we noticed that the grill uses plastic dishes with the checkered napkins. The checkered napkins are compostable, but it was really shocking to see the amount of them pile up in the compost. We wrote on comment cards that they should use plates instead of the plastic dishes and checkered napkins, or just get rid of the checkered napkins altogether because it is unnecessary.
Natalie
The biggest thing I've noticed as of late is the list of locally-grown and produced items in the Marketplace entrance. It's really cool to know that the wrap I'm eating from Capers has vegetables in it grown by the UVM Common Ground Farm, which I know people in. Making that deeper connection to your food is completely crucial in understanding and advocating for more local goods.
-Livy
I found it interesting how much people defended their food waste at the Simpson weigh in, stating that they had left over waste because the food was so bad. Places like the Marche seem to have less food waste, as the food comes in smaller portions and is not all-you-can eat (plus it is more expensive). However, places such as the Marche that are mostly take-out options produce a lot of packaging waste. I noticed today that the Marche was using plastic clam shell containers for the EuroSamplers instead of the usual compostable paper containers. The Marche, with its limited food waste, would be marvelous with less packaging waste, if students could bring their own containers or they were reusable, etc.
I realized that even though there are specific foods such as the apples that are usually local, it is hard to buy an all-local meal anywhere on campus. The Marketplace and Marche definitely try to use local fruits and vegetables, but most students don't just buy a meal full of vegetables. It is a rarity that they use local meat or dairy in the dining halls. It's especially sad because Vermont is known for their dairy and Dining Services doesn't promote that. For what it's worth though, they are trying and that's better than most public universities.
I found that the dining services could maybe improve by using different labeling for where their food is from. In Cook, there was a sign showing where the apples came from, which was cool. But, right next to it there was a poster board of Vermont showing where all different kinds of local foods are from that the dining hall used. The sign looked impressive, but it didn't give any information about how much beef or poultry came from a farm - students wouldn't know on which day or how often their meat was local or not (which, for some kinds of vegetarians is important!). The sign also included a farm which supplied us with quail and quail eggs, which I've never seen in the dining hall, so it made me skeptical of all the other foods listed. When Melissa and Kate came to talk about dining services, they explained how it would be difficult to label the food because the staff in the kitchen often do not know whether the food is local or not and that they're busy preparing the food.
-Laura
One thing I have noticed about food on campus is that many students do not like the dining hall food, and a lot of food waste is thrown out everyday. Also, at places like marche and the market place, many students got those large to-go containerss even if they are eating in. Many students throw these containers in the trash, using up a lot of space when they could be composted.
Some of the most interesting things I noticed were during the food weigh in. So many people were throwing away the exact same things because they didn't like the taste and how quick people were to defend the amount they were wasting. People were asware that they shouldn't be wasting so much and seemed to feel like they had to justify the amount of waste to us even though we were very friendly and never comented on people having a lot of waste. I think this is actually a good thing because it shows, if nothing else, people are aware and do care about reducing their waste and are embarassed to have a lot of it.
-Alyssa
I have noticed that composting is very confusing in our dining halls! there is no more sign in the Marche so I am assuming that students are not composting there. It seems that on weekends that there are not many vegetarian options anywhere. When weighing the waste in the simpson I noticed that people were wasting food because they did not like it, they did not mean to be wasteful . Most students felt pretty bad when they were dumping a whole plat into our bucket. i think we need a better way to give our dining halls feedback on the food they are providing... those little pieces of paper are not working
-Liz
The dining halls are pretty vegetarian/vegan friendly, but a lot of things that could easily be made vegetarian or vegan are not: for instance, corn chowder made with a chicken broth base and bacon bits, and sausage calzones. The dining halls could cut costs and make more foods available to more people by simply leaving out the meat.
Also, as Kalyn observed, there is a lot of contamination going on. The dining halls are good at the gluten-free, peanut-free zones. What about meat free?
For whatever reason (allergies?), this year peanut butter is coming in plastic single-serving containers. We could reduce waste by going back to the bulk peanut butter.
~Anna
While working at Simpson dining hall, and doing my dining hall survey at the Marche, I found that there are definitely major differences in "eco-friendliness" among the eating establishments on campus. Eating at a dining hall produces much less waste then eating at a place like the Marche or Marketplace, but your options are much more limited in terms of local foods and vegetarian/vegan options. In my experience with the dining halls they very rarely have main vegan entre that changes from day to day, where at the Marche, you can usually find something tasty and filling that has no meat in it. However, places like the Marche require you to use disposable silverware and containers. I think it would be a pretty simple change to encourage the use of real forks and plastic bowls att the Market Place at least, because they already have the dishwashing implements available.
I was impressed by the number of vegetarian options that the Marketplace had. Caper's always has two vegetarian options, Suki's (indian food) always has at least one vegetarian option, and then there is the station where you can design your own salad, as well as some already prepared foods like veggie wraps and salads. A problem though is that the Marketplace is closed every night by seven and not opened on the weekends. It's especially difficult to get healthful food on the weekends if you have points--the marche basically only has pizza and fried food, and even though Brennan's is getting better in terms of providing more local options, they still could use more vegetarian options that are more substantial than salad (the only other options are a veggie quesadilla and veggie chile). also something that really has bothered me is that i keep hearing that virtually none of the food that is composted on campus is accepted at the intervale. how much truth is there in that?
After listening Melissa and Kate, I’ve realized that the dining services are taking much more green initiates than I thought. Compared to other large colleges, we’re taking steps that they’re nowhere near. I certainly don’t think we’re where we want to be however. It was nice to hear them say that whatever they can get local they do. I learned a lot about the local meat industry and how most of it wasn’t FDA certified to be served in the dining halls. So when I hear someone complaining about the lack of local foods, I don’t add to the banter, I know a lot more is going on behind the scenes.
I'm glad UVM has many vegetarian, vegan, and local options, but I feel like there should be more, and different ones. Places like Marketplace and Marche always have a wide variety of options but the dining halls are very repetitive with their foods. Sometimes they only have a few options that are vegetarian and/or vegan but it can get old fast. By seeing how much food goes to the waste in the dining halls simply because it tastes bad, I would think that dining services would take action and stop producing these foods and put more effort into other options that more students will get/like. It is a waste of their money if they don't. I think it is good that we support some local farms but it would be great if we could take a bigger initiative towards doing so. I think that it was a great step that Brennens switched to almost all local foods and eating there produces almost no waste because it is all reusable cups, utensils, etc. They also have a compost there, as in the dining halls and it makes sense that there would be less waste because people order just one meal and eat almost all of it as opposed to in the dining hall where they can try something, and put it right into the compost as waste if they don't like it and go back and get something different. I think if the quality of the food was a little bit better then this would stop happening. It would even out cost wise too, because less food would be wasted, which would be a less waste of money.
I was really shocked by the statistics we heard- that UVM spends 4 billion a month on food I think it was? It's an incredible amount, anyway. Point is, it's a lot of food, and a lot of people to feed, which makes coordination of the system a lot more complicated than people think. It's a lot easier said than done, when it comes to the idea of providing local food on campus. We can't just suddenly come up with that much local food to feed thousands of people.
It was great to hear from Melissa and Kate as individuals about this issue. I say this because I think that a lot of people see Sodexo and everyone that represents it as the enemy. In reality, they are all just people, and most of them, like Melissa have really good intentions.
As for the dining halls, it was a really interesting experience to be involved with the food waste weigh-in. It was interesting to note that a lot of the dining hall staff were unfamiliar with compost, but were super friendly and hospitable to our efforts. I also thought it was interesting how some people felt the need to justify the amount of food waste. We assured them not to worry, but they seemed to anyway. I was also wondering if the waste weigh-in might have some kind of influence on people's future habits of consumption and/or disposal of food. It would be interesting to do another waste weigh-in for comparison.
-Anya Gedrath-Smith
I've noticed that at most Dining Halls, the displayed meal looks really appetizing, but the actual meal you're given, while looking similar, tastes nothing like it seems; awful.
Some people choose to continue to try the 'meal of the day' and wind up wasting it which quickly adds to the amount of food wasted.
As others have said, a lot of people tend to go to the Marche or Marketplace to get their meals, which come in packaging, sometimes made of plastic. While the Marche has been trying to promote some means of sorting waste, it still has a great deal of packaging waste/poorly sorted trash.
Though on the plus side, the Marketplace is pretty well on top of its game, as well as Cook to some extent.
-Brian S.
I was a little grossed out at the Northside Cafe when I went in to get an "Early riser" english muffin with egg and cheese. I saw only ones with egg, cheese and either sausage, ham or bacon, and when I asked for one with no meat the worker simply opened a box and took the bacon off of the sandwich and then tried to hand it to me.
Also, I have noticed that even though UVM is getting better about vegetarian and vegan options on campus, it is still rather tricky to find local foods on campus. Either it's not here or it's not labeled. Hopefully it's just not labeled!
I was a little grossed out at the Northside Cafe when I went in to get an "Early riser" english muffin with egg and cheese. I saw only ones with egg, cheese and either sausage, ham or bacon, and when I asked for one with no meat the worker simply opened a box and took the bacon off of the sandwich and then tried to hand it to me.
Also, I have noticed that even though UVM is getting better about vegetarian and vegan options on campus, it is still rather tricky to find local foods on campus. Either it's not here or it's not labeled. Hopefully it's just not labeled!
I get yelled at a lot for trying to use my own dishes, mostly by the marketplace soup ladies. I understand that swine is on the rise but i show them that my tuperware container is clean and offer to let them ladle the soup in so they can ensure the two don't touch but they still refuse. I would like to see the dish system that Melissa and Kate were talking about actually being implemented!
At the dining halls, I saw some efforts they are making to be "greener." There was information about local farms, some vegetarian/vegan options (which is not very common at many other colleges!), posters that encourages students not to waste food, etc. However, those efforts do not really tell the detailed information of the food, or what the dining halls are doing for the environment. Well, given the limited budget and limited students' interests, the university is trying the best, though.
When it comes to food waste at the unlimited dining halls, I think it could be less by improving the taste, and encouraging students to waste less. I wonder how the dining halls decide the menu and create new dishes. Depending on how they do, menu deciding process could be a big chance to lead to less food waste, because students are more or less finicky.
During the Food unit, I remember really appreciating how much packaging was used in dining halls and how unnecessary some of it was. For example, in the Marche, many items are individually wrapped (cookies, cold sandwiches, salads, etc). I understand that this might be necessary to keep these items fresh, but sometimes it is just wasteful. Couldn't there be a (fully equipped) salad bar for people to quickly make their own salads?
Another thing that began to really stand out was the contamination of compost bins. I have even heard that people don't compost because they believe that UVM's compost is so contaminated that the Intervale doesn't even use it. I have seen people standing over the compost bins, looking confused and defeated, and just throwing their trash into the compost. This is a serious problem... we need to make sure that UVM's compost system is not just another feature to impress potential students- it needs to be real! I don't know why people get so confused, but they do!
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