In 2017, UVic Executive Chef Tony Heesterman found himself eating chips with an assortment of other college and university chefs on a quiet afternoon at UBC. Gathered together to learn about Forward Food, a program aimed at increasing plant-based offerings at post-secondary institutions across North America, the chefs found themselves mowing bowls of tortilla chips, utterly captivated by the vegan cheese sauce. “We couldn’t get enough of it,” Heesterman recalls.
Six years later, UVic has fully embraced the plant-based path, with University Food Services (UNFS) playing a central role in our efforts to address sustainability. They’ve helped lower the university’s greenhouse gases by prioritizing plant-based foods and reducing GHG-heavy menu items like lamb, beef, pork, poultry and dairy. “We've reduced those items by about 50% in terms of our carbon footprint, and increased green-tier items into all of our menus,” says Director of Food Services John Thompson.
UNFS has reduced food packaging and waste, instead offering reusable dishes and flatware across our dining areas and incentivizing reusable mug use. At every opportunity, they look to divert materials from the landfill, right down to having The Cove and Mystic Market teams sort all end-of-meal food trays to ensure accurate waste diversion. They’ve replaced plastic straws with cornstarch, nixed single-use plastic water bottles from The Cove and all food kiosks at Mystic Market, and just last year, instituted the eco-box, an opt-in reusable container program that lets students carry food anywhere they need to, simply trading their dirty container in for a fresh one.
