Yes We Canteen

Yes We Canteen is a creative initiative to improve university catering.
Please take a look:
http://www.yeswecanteen.nl/

Manifesto for sustainable food catering at Wageningen UR

The WUR is reviewing its catering and is investigating which arrangement fits best the wishes of the WUR and its students and staff members. The current contract with Albron ends in 2012.

With this manifesto we want to support a strategic choice for the provision of healthy and sustainable food within the new contract of WUR food catering.

Catering at WUR

Wageningen UR (University & Research centre) “operates within the domain of healthy food and the living environment to improve the quality of life”. According to the mission, the WUR is “committed to contribute to the current challenges of this time, such as the availability of enough healthy and safe food, dealing with climate change and developing sustainable energy supplies”. This includes  a responsibility to deliver healthy, diverse and tasty food for its students and staff members. Canteens are ‘public spaces’ (within the confines of the WUR), where facilities are provided to both Dutch and international students and staff members of the WUR. Canteens are places where students and staff come together to have an enjoyable lunch which fits their dietary standards. Good food improves people’s health and also contributes to a better working environment, enhances social interaction and puts the WUR values of food quality and sustainability into practice.

Among staff and students there is the feeling that current food services need improvement. Signs of this are the use of alternatives options like Chinese and Italian take-away, the high number of lunches brought from home, in the Eat-ins that are being held where staff and students come together to eat food they have made themselves. Chances for improvement lie in adapting to the current wishes and needs of students and staff through a form of catering which reflects the values of the WUR as expressed by its ‘quality of life’ slogan.

Sustainability in practice

The availability of healthy food is paramount to a good standard of the WUR’s working and studying environment. Research shows that people do not eat sufficient amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables. Eating these at lunch at work/school can greatly help daily intake levels. This means that a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables should be available. And of course, taste is important!

The type of food on offer should fit the needs and food cultures of students and staff. Since many come from outside The Netherlands we plea for the provision of warm meals (other than soup) of good variety and taste including a vegetarian warm meal option. Warm meals should not contain artificial additives, only natural ingredients, and a large portion of vegetables (eg. no highly processed, sugar and high salt containing sauces).

In order to contribute to sustainability fruit and vegetables should be seasonal as much as possible, and/or organic where possible. Seasonality, and local/regional sourcing are ways to provide organic food more cheaply.

It’s possible!

There are numerous examples of innovative caterers who succeed in providing healthy, tasty and sustainable food at a reasonable price. These examples should be looked at and learned from. Food professionals who know how to provide a good quality service, can be consulted in order to realize this. Catering of tasty seasonal and organic food is something which requires specific knowledge and skills. This includes how to realize sustainability goals in procurement procedure.

WUR food policy

Good food should be seen as an integral part of the facilities for WUR students and staff. The setting up of the tendering and contract lending procedure should be transparent. It is important to involve representatives of students and members of staff in the setting up of new contracts. The WUR’s vision on food services and the practical ways in which these will be met should be available on the internet and communicated broadly in order to generate more support for the efforts the WUR takes in sustainable procurement.

The initiators:

Ina Horlings and Petra Derkzen, Rural Sociology Group

Elizabeth Sargant, Environmental Policy Group

Please support this manifesto by sending a mail before the end of June to lummina.horlings@wur.nl

With the following text:

Yes, I support this manifest for the provision of healthy and sustainable food catering:

Name: …………………………...   Organisation:………………………..... Position: ………………………

Vandana Shiva speaks

See what Vandana Shiva has to say about GMO's in India.
http://www.foodlog.nl/vandaag/bericht/vanavond_in_amsterdam_vandana_shiva/

See interesting blog

http://www.earthscan.co.uk/blog/post/So-can-organics-feed-the-world.aspx

So, can organics feed the world? by Matt Reed

Telling porkies: The big fat lie about doubling food production

http://www.soilassociation.org/News/NewsItem/tabid/91/smid/463/ArticleID/360/reftab/57/Default.aspx

20 April 2010

In the UK and globally the future direction of food and farming is being driven almost entirely by two frequently quoted statistics. Experts such as the UN Secretary General, the UK Government’s Chief Scientist, the current Secretary of State for the Environment, Hilary Benn MP, the Conservative Party, the National Farmers’ Union and Monsanto, are all saying that we need to increase food production 50% by 2030 or that it needs to double by 2050.

A new investigation from the Soil Association reveals that the widely used statistics are based on a ‘big fat lie’.
‘Telling porkies: The big fat lie about doubling food production’, reveals that all those claiming we need to double global food production by 2050, or 50% by 2030, are wrong about the figures, are wrong about what the figures apply to, and are wrong to claim that achieving these figures will mean we will feed the hungry or end starvation.
Research into the doubling figure shows it doesn’t actually exist in the stated source -and that it is based on a number of incorrect assumptions. The scientific basis for the claims are based on a report which on close inspection actually says production would need to increase by around 70%, not 100%. As the Government states this is a significant difference. The closest the report comes to the doubling claim is projecting that meat consumption in developing countries, except China, could double. The scientific paper that the 50% by 2030 claim is based on appears to have been withdrawn by the authors.
These apparently scientific statistics are leading to an assumption that we need vast increases in agricultural production to feed the projected population of 9 billion by 2050. Many commentators are using this inflated claim to justify the need for more intensive agricultural practices and, in particular, the need for further expansion of GM crops.
Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director, said:
“The ‘big fat lie’ of needing to double global food production by 2050 has dominated policy and media discussions of food and farming, making it increasingly difficult for advocates of sustainable farming methods, such as organic, to convince people we can actually feed the world without more damage to the environment and animal welfare.
“Many of those misusing the statistics in the FAO paper to argue for massive increases in food production in both UK and globally, appear to be unaware that they are in effect condemning many in developing countries to ill-health and early deaths, because they assume the spread of our unhealthy, Western diet to developing countries. In addition, these projections assume an increase of over a billion cattle, which would lead to massive increases in emissions of global warming gases.”
Those using these dodgy figures have continued to do so, even after the Government expressed some concern about them in September last year.
Independent sources quoted in the report say that with fairer diets and better distribution of food, organic farming could feed the world in 2050, with healthy diets.
Notes:
[1] Download the report here: ‘Telling porkies: The big fat lie about doubling food production’ [PDF, 902KB]
[2] About the Soil Association:
The Soil Association is the UK's leading environmental charity campaigning for sustainable, organic farming and championing human health. http://www.soilassociation.org/

Eat-in postponed to May 25th!!

Due to the fact that on May 19^th there will be regional produce sold in the canteen in Leeuwenborch

I would like to postpone the eat-in to the week after, Wednesday 25^th May!

Oregional will be selling regional products in the canteen, a try out to see if

cooperation with the caterer could be possible. http://www.oregional.nl/

The move to the 25^th works well since on this day the student organisation Farmers Foundation (Boerengroep)

wanted to have an Eat-in to celebrate their 40^th birthday.

So. Please note:

Wednesday 25 May – Eat-In Lunch @ Leeuwenborch

Time: 12.00

Location: Leeuwenborch (Hollandseweg 1, Wageningen)

This day the theme of the Eat-In will be ‘40 years the Farmers Foundation – Back to the Roots’. The Farmers Foundation will celebrate its 40^th birthday. We will look back at the themes and function of the Farmers Foundation, how they changed in time and what they will be for the future.

And of course you can enjoy and share your own food.