Eating Sustainably on Campus

Matt Spring

My Dinner

IngredientsSalad-Salad- Spinach and Iceberg Lettuce, Carrot Sticks, Broccoli, Olives, Sunflower Seeds, Hardboiled Egg, Cucumber, Jicama, Ranch DressingChicken FajitasChicken Fajitas- Spanish Rice, Two Tortillas, Ground Seasoned ChickenCereal-Cereal- Cheerios (Whole Grain Oats, Sugar, Oat Bran, Modified Corn Starch )& Low Fat Granola (sugar, oat clusters, raisins) with Fat Free MilkDessert-Dessert- Apricot Coffeecake (Sugar, Flour, and Egg, Milk, Apricot) and a BananaBeverageBeverage- Cranberry JuiceI was not able to get all the detailed ingredients because the UCLA Dining Services Online Menu was not accurate and did not have all the nutritional content for the foods served. They only had information for the Spanish Rice and the info for Cheerios off of nutritiondata.com

^ Spanish Rice Cheerios >

Where does UCLA Dining get their food?

• I asked the Manager at Hedrick Dining Hall about where they get their food. He told me that they order most of their organics and fruits and vegetables from Worldwide Produce, which is located in Los Angeles. They get most of their processed food, such as cereals from Sysco. I was surprised to find out that all the pastries and dessert items are made on campus in a bakery.

• I visited the Worldwide Produce website to find out where they get their food. Most of their produce comes from small locally grown farms located within 200 miles of LA County. During the offseason they get it from other countries, but it still is organically certified.

• Once the raw materials are delivered to UCLA, they cook all of the meals in their individual kitchens and you can see them being cooked. For example you can see the sheets of dough for the pizza and watch them add the toppings before it goes into the oven. The Dining Services also uses zero trans-fat oils, but in my opinion have a lot of oily/ greasy foods.

Sample Order Form

Composting & WasteUCLA Dining Services has piloted a Composting program in all the dining halls. All post-consumer food waste is separated from the waste stream and is sent for composting at an off-site composting facility instead of a landfill (most likely located in the valley or outskirts of L.A., they have a large facility in the City of Industry), and turns it into useful by-products such as soil amendments and fertilizers . The composting bin is like a regular trash bin and gets picked up by the same company as the trash (Athens Services). They recently have added this service to Rendezvous residential restaurant. The truck route goes throughout L.A. therefore adding to pollution and gasoline consumption.

In terms of food waste, it is estimated that ¼ of a pound of food is lost per person per day (Robert Gilbert, class guest speaker). For me I feel like ever since Hedrick Dining Hall went trayless, I got in the habit of never using trays at the other dining halls, and this led me to waste less, because I only take what I can carry, eat it, and then go back for seconds. The big problem that leads to food waste is that many peoples eyes are bigger than their stomachs!

Composting & WasteUCLA Dining Services has piloted a Composting program in all the dining halls. All post-consumer food waste is separated from the waste stream and is sent for composting at an off-site composting facility instead of a landfill (most likely located in the valley or outskirts of L.A., they have a large facility in the City of Industry), and turns it into useful by-products such as soil amendments and fertilizers . The composting bin is like a regular trash bin and gets picked up by the same company as the trash (Athens Services). They recently have added this service to Rendezvous residential restaurant. The truck route goes throughout L.A. therefore adding to pollution and gasoline consumption.

In terms of food waste, it is estimated that ¼ of a pound of food is lost per person per day (Robert Gilbert, class guest speaker). For me I feel like ever since Hedrick Dining Hall went trayless, I got in the habit of never using trays at the other dining halls, and this led me to waste less, because I only take what I can carry, eat it, and then go back for seconds. The big problem that leads to food waste is that many peoples eyes are bigger than their stomachs!