Common Energy/Event Food Session

UBC Common Energy Sustainability Workshop - October 26 & 27, 2011

Workshop on Food

• Speaker: Steve Golob, Head Chef at Vanier, UBC Food Services (golob-at-interchange.ubc.ca)
• Money, engagement, commitment, and status quo are significant obstacles
  • Relationship with suppliers and distributors: money talks - refuse unsustainable materials!
  • Strategic location of bins and colourful, language-appropriate signs!
• Elminate portion packs
• Eating healthy reduces externalities (e.g. health issues, hospital)
• http://www.sustainabletable.org/spread/handouts/Ten_Steps_to_Eating_Sustainable.pdf Ten Steps to Eating Sustainable
• Judge food demands
• Recycle as much as possible - things you don't know consider putting it into storage open for future opportunities
  • Reuse of pails (ketchup, mayonnaise)
• Buy bulk
• Find balance between sustainability and student demand
• Once you visually see how the process works, people can buy into it
• Direct contact with suppliers means providing line of credit, PO number, payment date; alternatively order through UBC Food Services or AMS who have influence to cut costs or get deals
  • For raw ingredients, there are legal liabilities
• Local sustainable food choices:
  • UBC Farm: can combine social event with getting local sustainable food
  • Agora- student, volunteer-run cafe in LFS building
  • Sprouts: allows anyone to order at cost from their distributors, anything from organic produce to grains, granola, toilet paper, biodegradable dog poopy bags.
  • Terra Breads: free day old bread!