(From left) Western junior Isabel Machuca-Kelley, freshman Caley DeVries, sophomore Alyson Simeone and junior Elena Dominguez. — Photo by Brett Flora
After two months of researching, four Western students presented about how much “real food” is on campus Tuesday, March 9.
Western sophomore and University Dining Services sustainability coordinator Alyson Simeone said “real food” is characterized as food that is grown organically without the use of chemicals or chemical fertilizers, food that is fairly traded, where workers are given a fair wage, and food that comes from farms where animals are treated humanely. In order to be eligible, the food has to be in two or more of these categories.
Simeone said the four of them tracked dining food purchases for the months of October and November, and discovered Western has 14 percent real food overall.
The four students, along with the Students for Sustainable Food club, are participating in a nationwide challenge to have 20 percent “real food” on campus by 2020. Western’s goal is to have 20 percent by 2012, Simeone said.
Western freshman Caley Devries, who was one of the students conducting the research, said she was shocked by how high the percentage of real food is at Western.
“Before I had done any calculations I looked around the dining hall and saw high fructose corn syrup and soda pop everywhere,” Devries said. “I thought the percentage would be about half what it is.”
Western junior Elena Dominguez said this project makes a difference for everyone.
“Food impacts so many parts of our life,” Dominguez said. “Whether you care about the environment, social justice issues, the way animals are treated, or care about your personal health, food involves all of these things.”
An example of conventional food on campus would be soda, or the beef patties served in the dining halls that are not organic," Simeone said.
Simeone said she is helping to coordinate Bellingham farms with Dining Services in an effort to have more organic food on campus.
She said there are now two organic farms that deliver food directly to Western: Twin Sisters Mushroom farm and Growing Washington farm.
She said during fall quarter Western purchased $27,000 in local food from Growing Washington farm, and $100,000 of food from other local venues.
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