English

Vegetarian selection to double in size

25 Feb 2020

The selection of vegetarian and vegan meals in the campus restaurants is to double in size. This is one of the points of action in the new sustainability plan drafted by Campus and Facilities, the department that includes the former Facilities & Services.

The selection of vegetarian and vegan meals in the campus restaurants is to double in size. This is one of the points of action in the new sustainability plan drafted by Campus and Facilities, the department that includes the former Facilities & Services.

The vegetarian croquette in the Refter is now hidden among the meat croquettes and other meaty snacks, but in five years it will be the default menu choice. The share of vegetarian food, now about 40%, is to be increased to about 80% by 2025.

This is one of the points in the sustainability plan of Campus and Facilities, which operates the restaurants on campus. The plan, which has been submitted to the university’s Executive Board, has not yet been made public. Vincent Barendregt, team leader at the Cultuurcafé and co-author of the plan, presented some of the major points of action on Monday during a meeting of the Netwerk duurzame ontwikkeling (‘sustainable development network’), a group of university staff who are considering sustainability issues.

Education

According to Barendregt, there’s a growing demand for vegetarian and vegan food on campus. In addition, it’s fitting for a university to ‘educate’ students not only by teaching but also by stimulating a sustainable and healthy lifestyle.

Back when Facilities & Services still existed, Barendregt was the one who suggested creating a Meat-Free Monday. He knows better than anyone that removing meat from the assortment can lead to intense reactions. ‘So we want to increase the share of vegetarian food step by step. It’s about people forming a different mindset, that they no longer think meat is standard.’

At the meeting of the Netwerk duurzame ontwikkeling, some present asked why it had to take so long to change the assortment. ‘If we did that all at once, we’d lose customers,’ Barendregt thinks. ‘And that’s difficult for an organisation that has to pay its own way.’ Moreover, restaurant personnel have to be trained to cook differently, and the university has to negotiate with its suppliers.

Trash bin

The sustainability plan created by Campus and Facilities consists of more than just the ambition to increase the amount of vegetarian food offered. By 2025 they also hope that no more food will end up in the trash bin, that less (plastic) packaging will be used and that more healthy food will be sold. In the ideal situation, the meat still sold would be produced sustainably or biologically. That’s currently not yet the case across the board.

2 comments

  1. Robin wrote on 28 februari 2020 at 09:07

    A minor point: translate ‘Netwerk duurzame ontwikkeling’ to English in some way, for example the English translation in brackets behind it e.g. (“Network sustainable development”)

  2. Joost Bücker wrote on 28 februari 2020 at 19:24

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