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Food & Dining

Introduction

Modern industrial food production often has deleterious environmental and social impacts. Institutions can use their food purchases to support their local economies; encourage safe, environmentally friendly and humane farming methods; and help eliminate unsafe working conditions and alleviate poverty for farmers. These actions help reduce environmental impacts, preserve regional farmland, improve local food security, and support fair and resilient food systems. Dining services can also support sustainable food systems by preventing food waste and diverting food materials from the waste stream, by making low impact dining options available, and by educating its customers about more sustainable options and practices.

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Certificate in Holistic Landscape Design

  • Bastyr University (WA)

Bastyr's Certificate in Holistic Landscape Design offers training for those who want to build upon their knowledge of medicinal and edible plants and apply that expertise by developing sustainable ...

  • Posted Aug. 22, 2016
  • Academic Programs
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Permaculture Design: Practicum

  • Cornell University (NY)

This 4.5-week online course provides an opportunity for students to build their knowledge about permaculture and ecological design. Participants will explore the content through videos, readings, and activities and ...

  • Posted Aug. 22, 2016
  • Academic Programs
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Permaculture Design: Ecosystem Mimicry

  • Cornell University (NY)

This 6.5-week online course provides an opportunity for students to build their knowledge about permaculture and ecological design. Participants will explore the content through videos, readings, and activities and ...

  • Posted Aug. 22, 2016
  • Academic Programs
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Permaculture: Fundamentals of Ecological Design

  • Cornell University (NY)

This 6.5-week online course provides an opportunity for students to build their knowledge about permaculture and ecological design. Participants will explore the content through videos, readings, and activities and ...

  • Posted Aug. 22, 2016
  • Academic Programs
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Water bottle ban a success; bottled beverage sales have plummeted

  • Washington University in St. Louis (MO)

Sales of bottled beverages at Washington University in St. Louis have plummeted 39 percent since 2009, when the university became the first in the nation to ban the sale of ...

  • Posted Aug. 19, 2016
  • Publications
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A Sustainable Campus: The Sydney Declaration on Interspecies Sustainability

  • University of Canterbury
  • University of Technology Sydney
  • University of Sydney (NSW)

Under the remit of an expanded definition of sustainability – one that acknowledges animal agriculture as a key carbon intensive industry, and one that includes interspecies ethics as an integral part ...

UT Farm Stand long lines before opening first event

UT Farm Stand

  • University of Texas at Austin (TX)

UT Farm Stand is a student-led project that provides local and organic fresh foods to the University of Texas at Austin students, faculty, and staff. Our mission is focused on ...

  • Posted June 16, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Rescued Food Feast menu and donations

Rescued Food Feast

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Aramark (PA)

The Rescued Food Feast was an event held at Arizona State University and was a collaboration between the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Aramark Higher Education, Sprouts Farmers ...

  • Posted June 11, 2016
  • Case Studies
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UCLA Dining Hall Fair Trade Signage

UCLA is the Largest Public University in the U.S. to achieve Fair Trade Status

  • University of California, Los Angeles (CA)
  • Fair Trade Colleges & Universities

University of California, Los Angeles, part of a national initiative by Fair Trade Campaigns to engage college/university students in issues of global poverty, officially received designation as a Fair ...

  • Posted June 11, 2016
  • Case Studies
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FoodShare Grand Opening flyer

RIT FoodShare

  • Rochester Institute of Technology (NY)

RIT FoodShare is an initiative on the RIT campus that has been established to address food insecurity and food waste. It is both a campus food pantry and a facebook ...

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Integrated educational food garden and composting

  • California State University, Northridge (CA)

Striving towards zero waste and with a close-the-loop philosophy, CSUN students are diverting over 35,000 pounds of pre-consumer waste/year and turning it back into food via an on ...

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Plant-Powered Dining @ Cornell University

  • Cornell University (NY)

Student Sustainability coordinators sought to do something in line with these initiatives at Cornell. Many universities have adopted versions of a “Meatless Monday” program, or have an all-vegetarian dining hall ...

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Students processing Grounds Department organic waste into piles

Composting for a Greener Campus: the Texas State University Bobcat Blend program

  • Texas State University, San Marcos (TX)

Bobcat Blend is a faculty managed, student-run and grant-supported research and teaching-oriented waste management campus composting program at Texas State University. The goals of the organization are to teach students ...

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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A sign posted on cash registers in Wisconsin Union restaurants, markets, and cafes tells customers about the receipt-optional initiative.

UW–Madison Receipt Reduction Project

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)

Over a span of two years, teams of students, faculty, and staff at the University of Wisconsin–Madison eliminated mandatory receipt printing at campus dining centers, restaurants, markets, and cafes ...

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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GrabItDiagram1

Bagging the Disposable Plastic Bag

  • Case Western Reserve University (OH)
  • Bon Appétit Management Company

The Student Sustainability Council at Case Western Reserve University removed disposable plastic bags from campus dining locations and replaced them with reusable bags.

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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The brown's team outside of the brown's- a california cafe

Brown's- A California Cafe

  • University of California, Berkeley (CA)

This August, Cal Dining opened brown’s- a california café. By design, over 80% of the ingredients used are sourced locally from within 250 miles of the UC Berkeley campus ...

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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By using vertical space and intercropping, we are able to get a lot more out of a confined space.

The Learning Garden at Virginia Commonwealth University

  • Virginia Commonwealth University (VA)

Virginia Commonwealth University's Office of Sustainability has created a new, urban, Learning Garden that produces fruits and vegetables exclusively for donation. The garden was created in response to a ...

  • Posted June 10, 2016
  • Case Studies
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Classroom experience

CPS Café – Sustainable Food Service Operation

  • University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI)

The CPS Café is an eatery operated mainly by students across campus and is a unique food service business open to the public. It is a program within the College ...

Green Restaurant Certification for Dining Halls and Restaurants

  • Green Restaurant Association (MA)

Search over 500 restaurants to view the thousands of green steps they have implemented. Review the Green Restaurant® Education Section. Use the standards as a guidelines to help you make ...

Greenbox Photo

Development of a Novel Food Waste Collection Kiosk and Waste-to-Energy Business Model

  • University of Toledo (OH)

The US generates more than 37 million metric tons of food waste each year and over 95% of it is disposed of at US landfills. This paper describes the development ...

Love Food, Hate Waste: Analyzing Food Waste and Reduction at Rice University

  • Rice University (TX)

It is known that about 30% of food produced worldwide is ultimately wasted (Gunders 2012). Rice University is not immune to this phenomenon, and past research has shown that Rice ...

Quantifying the components of the mass and energy balance of a black soldier fly (BSF) food waste composting system

  • Rochester Institute of Technology (NY)

Project Description:

An academic institution represents a constrained system that generates a consistent amount of waste. Bioconversion of organic food waste with Black solider fly (Hermetia illucens;Diptera: Stratiomyidae) larave ...

It’s What’s for Dinner: Furman University’s Sustainable Dining Initiative

  • Furman University (SC)

The majority of the food in the United States is produced via an industrial food production and distribution system, which is inherently unsustainable due to its widespread environmental (e.g ...

Sustainable Carolina Farm and Garden Hydroponics

  • University of South Carolina (SC)

Sustainable Carolina is a student run organization within the University of South Carolina, working to better our campus by making it more sustainable. We work with students, staff, professors, and ...

Adrienne Cachelin Headshot

Promotion vs. Education in Choosing "Real Food"

  • University of Utah (UT)
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)
  • Real Food Challenge (MA)

The global agro-industrial system contributes to an abundance of human and ecological health problems from social injustices and public health issues to global warming and ecological degradation. In response to ...

Unifying Campus Efforts in Pursuit of Green Restaurant Certification at UC Irvine's East Food Court

  • University of California, Irvine (CA)

UC Irvine's East Food Court became a Certified Green Restaurant on November 5, 2015 and upgraded its certification from 2-Star to 3-Star on April 22, 2016 through significant interdepartmental ...

Compost and Recycling Bins for Collection

Boston University Zero Waste Commencement

  • Aramark (PA)

Boston University is a private research institution located in Boston, Massachusetts with approximately 33,000 undergradate and graduate students. During Commencement week, Boston University Dining Services/Aramark serves more than ...

What’s Wrong with the Tap? Examining Perceptions of Tap Water and Bottled Water at Purdue University

  • Saint Mary's University of Minnesota (MN)
  • Purdue University (IN)

The environmental impacts of bottled water prompted us to explore drinking water choices at Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, IN. A random sample of 2,045 Purdue University students ...

Future Site of UNT Community Garden

UNT Community Garden

  • University of North Texas (TX)

University of North Texas' first on-campus community garden is in the final stages of planning, with construction begining this fall, in a vacant lot next to the Legends hall, just ...

First Food Hub Pick-up and Delivery, Cycle Farm, Spearfish, SD

Black Hills Food Hub

  • Black Hills State University (SD)

Black Hills State University (BHSU) and Spearfish community partners are seeking to create a culture that supports and values local food in order to expand the reach and depth of ...

Flier

Smokey's Pantry: A FISH Hospitality Pantry

  • University of Tennessee at Knoxville (TN)

Erica Davis, a senior at the University of Tennessee, spearheaded a food recovery project called Smokey’s Pantry. This project provided groceries recovered from various sources and distributed them to ...

The Real Food Challenge at Lehigh University

  • Lehigh University (PA)

The Real Food Challenge (RFC) is a national student run campaign to encourage campuses to increase the ratio of food purchased from “conventional” to “real food”. At Lehigh, the Office ...

Campus Greenhouse at Bellairs Construction Build

Campus greenhouse for local and sustainable tropical food production and education at Bellairs Research Institute

  • McGill University (QC)

The Bellairs facility is located at Folkestone, Barbados. It hosts many students and scientists from McGill and around the world for field courses, workshops and research projects. This project's ...

Leading by Collaboration: Institutional composting on a non-residential campus

  • Johnson County Community College (KS)

JCCC's composting initiatives have changed operational practices and enriched campus culture in many ways. Those directly involved in our composting work are passionate about reducing food waste, handling it ...

Gaucho Certified Farmers Market

  • University of California, Santa Barbara (CA)

In the Fall of 2014, myself and a group of 5 other faculty members founded the first ever successful farmers market on the UC Santa Barbara campus.

The project was ...

UIC Heritage Garden Logo

UIC Heritage Garden

  • University of Illinois Chicago (IL)

The Heritage Garden at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is a hands-on learning project with an internship program where students work with faculty, staff, and community members to ...

Plastic bags formerly available in the Atrium, a popular campus food court, were replaced with paper bags -- a more sustainable and recyclable option -- in January 2016.

NC State University Students Leverage Partnerships To Eliminate Plastic Bags on Campus

  • North Carolina State University (NC)

Over a three-year period, the NC State Stewards collaborated with the university’s Campus Enterprises division to move toward the elimination of single-use plastic bags in the most wasteful locations ...

University of Redlands Proposal for Expanded Composting

  • University of Redlands (CA)

We are currently living in a time with inequity, economic instability and environmental degradation. The University of Redlands campus claims to be sustainable, however, we lack many forms of renewable ...

University of Redlands Proposal for Expanded Composting

  • University of Redlands (CA)

We are currently living in a time with inequity, economic instability and environmental degradation. The University of Redlands campus claims to be sustainable, however, we lack many forms of renewable ...

Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems

  • Sterling College (VT) (VT)

Recognizing that building a healthy and just food system is among the most critical challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, the Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture & Food ...

  • Posted May 20, 2016
  • Research Centers & Institutes
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The Unintended Consequences of Changes in Beverage Options and the Removal of Bottled Water on a University Campus

  • University of Vermont (VT)

Objectives. We investigated how the removal of bottled water along with a minimum healthy beverage requirement affected the purchasing behavior, healthiness of beverage choices, and consumption of calories and added ...

Interdisciplinary and Multilevel Approach to Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Education at North Carolina State University

  • North Carolina State University (NC)

There is an increasing demand for education in organic and sustainable agriculture from undergraduates, graduate students and extension agents. In this paper, we discuss highlights and evaluations of a multilevel ...

  • Posted April 28, 2016
  • Publications
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Evaluation of the Food Store Environment on and Near the Campus of 15 Postsecondary Institutions

  • University of Florida (FL)
  • Tuskegee University (AL)
  • Kansas State University (KS)
  • Purdue University (IN)
  • South Dakota State University (SD)
  • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Central Office (NJ)
  • Syracuse University (NY)
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)
  • Michigan State University (MI)
  • West Virginia University (WV)
  • University of Maine (ME)

Purpose. This study evaluated the food stores on and near postsecondary campuses varying in institutional size.

Design. The design of the study is an environmental audit survey.

Setting. Fifteen U ...

  • Posted April 28, 2016
  • Publications
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Menu Psychology to Encourage Healthy Menu Selections at a New Jersey University

  • Montclair State University (NJ)

The objective of this research was to investigate whether merchandizing strategies could encourage college students to make healthy foodservice menu selections. Two hundred sixty-six Montclair State University, New Jersey, students ...

  • Posted April 28, 2016
  • Publications
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Local foods in a university setting: Price consciousness, product involvement, price/quality inference and consumer's willingness-to-pay

  • University of South Carolina (SC)

The current study looks at the relationship between price consciousness, product involvement, price/quality inference, and consumer's willingness-to-pay related to local foods in a university foodservice environment. The study ...

  • Posted April 28, 2016
  • Publications
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Sustainable food systems at urban public universities: A survey of 21 universities

  • University of Michigan (MI)
  • Wayne State College (NE)

Urban communities are challenged by the conventional food system in diverse ways. To mitigate these challenges, a growing sustainable food system (SFS) movement mobilizes existing resources—including public institutions—to ...

  • Posted April 28, 2016
  • Publications
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Applying Anthropology to the Campus Dining System: Reflections on Working with Community Food Assessments and the Real Food Challenge

  • Oregon State University (OR)

When the Oregon Food Bank began conducting Community Food Assessments in 2009, they enlisted graduate students in Oregon State University's (OSU) applied anthropology program to examine the impact of ...

  • Posted April 28, 2016
  • Publications
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Campus Sustainable Food Projects: Critique and Engagement

  • Emory University (GA)

Campus sustainable food projects recently have expanded rapidly. A review of four components—purchasing goals, academic programs, direct marketing, and experiential learning—shows both intent and capacity to contribute to ...

  • Posted April 28, 2016
  • Publications
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Celebrating Earth Day One Bite at a Time

  • Indiana State University (IN)

On Earth Day at ISU, Sodexo closes one of our dining halls and has an outdoor picnic instead, where students can use their meal plans for a lunch featuring ingredients ...

  • Posted April 26, 2016
  • Photographs
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Spring FARMal at American University

Spring FARMal at American University

  • American University (DC)

Spring FARMAL, Co-hosted by the AU Community Garden and Office of Sustainability, celebrated Earth Day with a screen on the green of "Plant This," outdoor crafts and activities, local food ...

  • Posted April 26, 2016
  • Photographs
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This tab provides access to data collected through AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS enables meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community.

All responses reference content from reports under the latest version of STARS, version 2.2. AASHE membership and log-in is required.

OP 7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

OP 8: Sustainable Dining

Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.

Food & Dining Partners

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