University of Edinburgh students have vote to keep meat on the menu. Climate activists at the university wanted the canteens run by the students’ association to serve only plant-based food by 2027 and also make “climate footprint calculations” available to students. But in a vote, only 19% voted in favour.
Last November Stirling University voted to go vegan, but some students complained there that the motion to do so was passed at a student’s union meeting attended by only 100 people out of the 17,000 at the university.
In Edinburgh, The Times reported that 645 students voted against the move, while 152 voted in favour and 15 abstained. How that stacks up with the 42,000 total student population, I don’t know. I assume only a subset were eligible to vote but it is not clear how that worked.
In any case, we can see a whole range of tricky issues contained within this story. There is evidence that many vegans struggle to get the right nutrition to keep themselves fit and healthy. It’s fine for Novak Djokovic, who can afford the best vegan chefs, supplements and products to keep himself in top athletic condition, but it’s a lot harder for a student living in digs somewhere to do the same. Vegetarians have fewer issues, as dairy products and eggs can provide a lot of the key dietary elements not found in fruit and vegetables, but I would have been worried if my daughter had tried to g o vegan at Uni.
There is also a freedom of choice issue here. Most students I suspect would like vegan offerings to be available to those who want them; but is removing that element of choice from the majority really an appropriate step to take?
Then we have the wider questions of “sustainability”. Is flying in avocados, coconuts and wasabi really better in terms of climate and emissions than sourcing locally Scottish produced meat and dairy products from small farmers? What about the impact of almond and soya milk on the environment, such as the huge quantities of water needed for almond growing in California (not to mention the questions about just how “natural” some of those products really are?)
And yet food production is a major contributor to climate change and indeed to related issues such as deforestation and even modern slavery. There is no doubt that if most people in the developed world ate less meat, that would be positive in terms of emissions and probably for public health too.
So what else could be done without going as far as banning all animal products? I’m thinking here of not just the university setting, but issues that any food buyer working for a catering or hospitality firm, or maybe a category manager for FM and / or catering services responsible for internal catering, might be able to consider. Here are some ideas.
- Always make sure that there are vegetarian and vegan alternatives on offer to customers / consumers as well as meat or fish-based options.
- For a workplace cafeteria or similar, maybe have one day a week designated as a “vegan day” in the outlets?
- Look critically at the “food miles” of everything provided, and strive wherever possible to focus on seasonal and locally produced food (whether animal or vegetable in nature).
- Consider organic produce and animal products that meet high standards of animal welfare – in other words, think about the “provenance” of what is being bought and consumed.
- Only serve “sustainable” varieties of fish (and note that this is a complex topic in itself – there is a general lack of clarity around this issue).
- Look at the energy use for different dishes – with apologies to all lovers of the Sunday roast, a quick stir fry uses less energy than sticking a joint in the oven for 3 hours!
And don’t forget about quality in general. There were other disturbing stories last week about a major meat producer in the UK (not named) that has apparently been selling mislabelled and in some case rotten meat to customers. Perhaps that is a secret vegan plot to make more of us go in that direction?