Sodexo, the food services provider employed by the University of Denver, has come under fire by students who refer to the offered food as “Rubbery”, “Not-quite-thawed-out”, and “Obviously scraped off the back of some long-forgotten freezer”.

The fruits and veggies in the salad bar are often soggy and limp after being frozen and defrosted, sometimes several times in a row.

Health and taste conscious students like Katy Keith often wonder if there might not be a better way to prepare food served in the campus dining halls.

Enter the “Real Food Challenge” proposed by Students for Sustainable Foods (SSF) and signed by DU in May 2014.

The Real Food Challenge sets forth the goal of Sodexo providing 20 percent “real” food on campus by 2020.

Real food is sustainably and locally sourced. Ideally the herbs and veggies used in these udon noodles would be grown locally.

“Ultimately we’d like to see 100 percent real food on campus, but we’re taking baby steps. Right now we’re really pushing for buying produce and herbs locally, and for growing them ourselves.”

-Chelsea Sumnere, Students for Sustainable Foods

This hydrotower, installed in the Centennial Halls Dining Hall, is part of that ‘growing them ourselves’. This tower, and the hard-work of both SSF and Sodexo staff, will provide fresh herbs for use in Sodexo dishes here on campus.

In addition to herbs, the hydrotower will grow lettuce and cabbage for use in the salad bar. SSF also has plans for a plot in the community garden where other vegetables can be grown.

Basil, which is used in a wide variety of Sodexo pasta dishes and soups, is growing well in the hydrotower.

In the community garden plot, SSF would like to grow an assortment of vegetables including broccoli, zucchini, and tomatoes.

However, one year after the Real Food Challenge was signed DU is still far away from meeting its goal. According to Chelsea Sumnere, only six percent of the food served on campus qualifies as Real.

This is a three percent increase from last year but still far from the 20 percent goal.

“This is all a big learning process for us. We had an accident with the hydrotower over spring break and lost a lot of our basil sprouts. But we’re learning and we’re ready to keep moving forward. Every year from here on out will be better.”-Madi Jones, Students for Sustainable Foods

One of the improvements that SSF has made to the hydrotower is adding this solar light to help the sprouts grow. Already things are taking a turn for the better.

SSF member Bianca Garcia checks the hydrotower water before adding a mixture of nutrients and plant food to help the plants grow.

With the commitment of SSF and Sodexo, the Real Food Challenge is still on track and underway.

Over the course of the next few years, more and more of the Sodexo fruit and salad bars will be locally-source, maybe even campus-grown, produce, benefitting both local farmers and hungry DU students.

Until then, DU students should rest assured knowing that a dedicated group of students and staff are fighting hard to improve dining conditions and food quality.

Students not content to simply sit tight are encouraged to join SSF Wednesday nights at Six PM in the Jmac sustainability office.