Finding a place on the plate
Slippery Rock University and nine other campuses are participating in a pilot program to curb their carbon footprint by giving more attention to sustainable food
The battle to save Planet Earth has reached the campus dining hall, where nutrition and environmental science experts are helping create meals for college students that are not only healthy, but easy on the climate.
It’s an elaborate dietary endeavor, tied to a youthful consumer market predisposed to weighing the carbon footprint they leave in their daily life. But how will climate-friendly options fare in a population prone to eating on the run? The answer could be complicated. Take undergraduates such as Mia Graziani, 21, a senior at Slippery Rock University, where a program known as “Cool Food Meals” has begun highlighting menu options with a smaller carbon footprint. Already, she avoids beef in her diet for health and environmental reasons and the influence of a vegetarian relative.
But she’s also rushed whenever she enters Boozel Dining Hall, where the new options have been rolled out. She has to make a split-second food choice.
“I feel like, myself, I’ll go with whatever looks good,” said Ms. Graziani, from Canonsburg. “I feel that’s true for a lot of students. They say, ‘Let me see what I can eat?’ Grab it as fast as they can and sit down.”
The Cool Food Meals badge from the World Resources Institute (WRI) identifies dishes with a lower carbon footprint. It has begun appearing on about 350 menu items that food-service provider Aramark offers in residential dining rooms.
The debut at Slippery Rock this month follows an October announcement of a pilot program at several universities served by Aramark.
In addition to Slippery Rock, other Aramark campuses in the pilot program include Arizona State University, Florida State University, St. Bonaventure University, the University of California Irvine, the University of Mississippi, the University of North Carolina Wilmington, the University of Virginia, and Western Washington University.
The WRI measured the carbon footprint of hundreds of Aramark’s recipes to identify the 350 options based on the ingredients and land used to produce the meal, officials said. If a dish’s carbon footprint falls below an established permeal threshold, and also meets nutrition safeguards, it was approved as a Cool Food Meal.
A sampling includes: Mediterranean Falafel Plate, Five Spice Sesame Tofu Salad Bowl, Shawarma Chicken Ciabatta, and Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese Sandwich.
All meet the standard, ”farm to fork,” as Aramark puts it.
Climate-friendly food is another manifestation of a sustainability movement nationally, seen for years on college campuses inside the classroom and beyond — from vegetation or “green roof” projects and buildings with LEED-certified construction, to goats noshing on campus hillsides so lawnmowers need not be powered up.
Of late, university governing boards nationally have pledged to speed up their path to becoming carbon neutral, often prodded by students on their campuses who demand greater transparency about how their consumption impacts the planet.
Trustees at this region’s largest campus, the University of Pittsburgh,
approved a resolution in February 2020 that stopped short of immediately divesting itself of fossil fuel investments but committed its large research campus to become carbon neutral by 2037.
Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said it would be felt both in and outside the classroom — from procuring paper to the kind of automobiles Pitt will use.
And, yes, food. “Young people are some of the loudest voices calling for climate action,” said Edwina Hughes, head of Cool Food at World Resources Institute. ”With agriculture accounting for a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, changing what we eat is one of the easiest ways to lower our personal carbon footprint and have an impact in the world.”
None of that is lost on the $11 billion higher education food service industry.
Even before the pandemic, which drove up demand for delivered food, it chased demographics showing more interest in the environment and sustainability.
In fact, Chicago-based dining service consultant Technomic reports that 56% of students, up from 48% in 2019, say it is important that schools make nutritional information easily accessible, and 51% of students, up from 45% in 2019, say it is important that their school is transparent about how ingredients are sourced.
Its research also says 55% of students indicate they would like their school to reduce plastic waste by eliminating single-use plastics like straws and cups.
Last week, Pitt’s dining service contractor, Chartwells, known on campus as “Pitt Eats,” announced what it says is the largest installation of microfarming units on any campus in the country, intended to offer diners a close-up look at sustainable food.
Produce including Genovese basil, thyme, cilantro, crunch mix, microgreens, wasabi arugula and pea shoots are in high-traffic dining locations — including The Eatery and The Perch, and two retail food courts, Cathedral Cafe and Schenley Cafe.
Even before the installation, said Pitt junior Matthew Moore, an evolution in offerings was underway in the upper-campus venue where he eats, The Perch.
“There’s always a harvest or roast vegetable offering,” said Mr. Moore, 21, from New Castle, who is studying politics, philosophy and economics.
At Slippery Rock, the Cool Food Meal badge is found in Boozel, a renovated hall with a large windowed atrium and columns, as well as a Brazilian Churrasco grill as a centerpiece.
Aramark is the first contract catering company to adopt the Cool Food Meals badge. About 35% of Aramark offerings already are either vegetarian or vegan, and it has been working to up its climate-friendly choices.
“Students evolve, so we need to match our menus to them,” said Jennifer Braughler, senior Aramark marketing manager for Western Pennsylvania.
Students today are more likely than those from previous generations to have been raised in households where sustainability was discussed, said Richard Iams, executive director of Aramark in Western Pennsylvania.
At minimum, it gives them comfort that they are doing something beneficial in their daily choices.
WRI uses a dish’s ingredients list to calculate its carbon footprint by analyzing the emissions from the agricultural supply chains and the land used to produce the meal, officials said. If a dish whose carbon footprint is less than an established permeal threshold and meets a nutrition safeguard, it is approved as a Cool Food Meal.
The threshold is based upon a maximum recommended daily carbon footprint for a person’s diet, which is 38% smaller than the current average. For breakfast in the United States, this is 3.59 kg CO2e/ portion, and for lunch or dinner it is 5.38 kg CO2e/portion. This is in line with what WRI’s research has found is needed by 2030 to help meet the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Ms. Graziani, student government association president at Slippery Rock, who is majoring in health care administration and management, said themed menus or special offerings tied to the environment are fine. But it’s as important to deliver appetizing food, and she said Aramark has faced issues since taking over at Slippery Rock last year that include worker shortages that have made it hard to keep full dining hall hours.
Grant Warmbein, 21, a senior psychology major from Upper St. Clair, cited the importance of consistency, too. He offered a similar observation in general about food service dining, one heard by college students for generations.
“One day it’s very good,” he said. “Then the next it’s prison food.”