By Robert Van de Noort
As a University with sustainability and action on climate change close to our hearts, we are always keen to promote and contribute to debate on policies that help to bring about positive change.
Recently, the University was called upon, as part of a national student-led campaign, to switch all campus catering menus to vegan-only options to help address the global climate crisis.
We take our commitment to the environment very seriously and have established many measures to reduce our carbon footprint, including looking at how we can make our catering more sustainable.
We have carefully considered the proposals to switch to vegan-only menus, but have ultimately decided it is not the best way to achieve the best results for the environment, or for students and other diners on our campuses.
Here’s why. While plant-based menus would reduce our emissions, they may simply shift consumption elsewhere and lack long-term impact on changing behaviours. We want our students and visitors to adopt greener lives for good, and not just when on campus.
The University of Reading is committed to genuinely making a difference on key issues – this is why we were the first European university to join the Menus of Change Universities Research Collaborative.
This group of 60 global universities is dedicated to shifting behaviour patterns around eating, with a focus on more healthy and more sustainable food options.
As part of this, we are trialling techniques in our campus dining areas to make plant-based dishes more appealing and more mainstream. One method is to look at changing how we present food on shelves and on menus, and by using different labels and descriptions.
Another initiative is our move to a ‘plant-forward’ approach, steadily increasing plant-based food options while decreasing meat content across our menus.
For example, our beef burgers now contain 20% mushrooms, and we have added protein-rich lentils to our bolognese sauce. These small steps reduce carbon emissions while keeping meals tasty and nutritious for all.
We have set a target to cut the carbon intensity of an average meal on campus by 25% by 2030. In addition to introducing more plant-based proteins, we are sourcing organic, higher-welfare meats and local produce where possible, including from our own farm.
We recently earned the top “Food Made Good” rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, for all our campus food outlets. Such external validation shows we are on the right path.
Indeed, recent research from Student Minds and the UPP Foundation also shows that the overwhelming majority of students agree with our approach. Not everyone is ready to move to a fully plant-based diet. But our diverse menus ensure vegan options are always available, while supporting flexitarians and meat-eaters to reduce their carbon footprint.
As a global leader in the study of food, health and the environment, the University of Reading is well-placed to be at the forefront of changes in sustainable dining. We will always welcome robust debate on how to enact meaningful change.
And we are proud our dining spaces can act as living laboratories, providing real evidence to drive dietary shifts that benefit both human and planetary health.
Professor Robert Van de Noort is the vice-chancellor of the University of Reading
