By Ruby Sturm VRG intern

Steven Sturdivant from the US Environmental Protection Agency has a Zoom series talking about universities that are making sustainable food choices. I watched one of the lectures in the series, which was presented by Jan Stoop, an Economics Professor at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The presentation was interesting. Professor Stoop wanted to change food options for the faculty meals. He explained how the idea of “free choice” had always been important for the faculty meals. But he believed the model wasn’t organized in the right way. Instead of prioritizing nutrition and environmental interests in meal options, the university was valuing price above all. Under the current catering plan, faculty who wanted a vegan or vegetarian meal needed to fill out a special request form. Dr. Stoop proposed flipping the switch–to make the healthier and more environmentally friendly vegan meals a default, and make employees fill out a request form if they wanted meat or dairy meals. He said people needed a “nudge” in the right direction, not just throwing them straight off of a cliff. And because humans always tend to choose the easier option, a whole lot of people wouldn’t specially request anything. Instead they would go with the default option.

Dr. Stoop thought about how to make a good argument. He didn’t want to talk about animal rights or health. He thought the animal rights argument unfortunately would just make people feel guilty, and he couldn’t convince people with a health argument because he wasn’t a doctor. So he focused on the idea of “equality.” The university has a diverse faculty body, and in many religions certain meats and even dairy are prohibited. For example, in Islam and Judaism you don’t eat pork, and Hinduism prohibits eggs, fish, poultry, and beef. There are also people with food allergies to things like dairy, gluten, and eggs. There were also Asian teachers at the university who were lactose intolerant. If you think about it, it seems pretty unfair to serve chicken wraps or pepperoni and cheese sandwiches at a university with people who can’t even eat what you give them doesn’t it? On the other hand, everyone can eat vegan. Another main point Dr. Stoop made is that a university should be a role model. There are a lot of things that are out of our hands, but when we find something we can actually do, we should do it.

After Professor Stoop had a good argument, he reached out to popular and important members of the university community and asked them to sign a petition of support. When he went to the Dean, he showed the petition and could say, ‘Look at all of the names on this list!’ The Dean supported Dr. Stoop’s idea. The final step would be to have a tasting and look at catering options. Professor Stoop went to the university secretaries, because they were the ones who ordered the food. He got the catering company to order a vegan lunch, and all of the secretaries came to try it. Instead of the bland food the secretaries expected, everything was bursting with color and flavor. It was also easy to prepare, so the kitchen staff learned quickly. The food was ordered from the Netherlands version of the Better Food Foundation. BFF is a nonprofit that has connections throughout the food industry, and are able to help you get better food for the same price as terrible food. The new catering program got a lot of publicity and Erasmus University decided to expand it to all departments. However, they thought that a “Vegan Nudge” might be too extreme and decided that a vegetarian default meal would be better. Vegan and meat meals could still be ordered as an option. Dr. Stoop was disappointed about this because he thought vegan meals were much better for the environment than vegetarian meals.

This Environmental Protection Agency lecture series highlights new vegan meal programs at universities around the USA and the world. As an 8th grader, who is worried about the food choices I’ll have when I enter high school in the Fall, I feel a little envious. Vegan food seems to be becoming popular everywhere except in K-12 schools. It doesn’t matter whether the schools are public or private, cafeteria meals for K-12 students is the same food they serve in prisons. I am homeschooling this year, but I still remember the overcooked mac and cheese that was disintegrating in my bowl, old green beans, and the tasteless square pizza that were sometimes a vegetarian option at the Catholic school I used to attend. I remember trying to get the school to offer vegan hot dogs at their school “hot dog social,” but it somehow never worked out. I even bought some and brought them to school, but no one bothered to put them on the grill. It’s great to see that universities are getting a “vegan nudge,” but K-12 cafeterias still aren’t.  Vegan kids are stuck with sugary, packaged pbj’s and pesticide-filled watermelon as their only option. Until more schools receive help from organizations, kids will be stuck with something like prison food until they graduate high school.

For more on foodservice, see https://www.vrg.org/fsupdate/index.htm

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