Kitchen Cabinet
December 10, 2012
Mark Hanson, Erin Traxler, Seymon Rozin, Saskia Raether, Rebecca Hare, Lisa Heldke, Margo Druschell, Steve Kjellgren, Judy Douglas, Jim Dontje, Lucy Tongen(Public Discourse Class), Deborah Goodwin, George Elliott, Steve Bennett, Jeff Stocco, Luke Fanning (Public Discourse Class), Amy Milberg (Fair Trade Information)
Coke RFP Discussion
The coke application process was explained by Deborah and the written information was provided to the Cabinet. The goal is to start with the grants on campus; Jan1-Feb 15, 2012 is the deadline. These are split into research and development grants and then an implementation grant. Steps that describe the project are also included in the written paperwork. The question was asked: “What is the best way to get this out to the most amounts of people in the shortest amount of time”. Deborah will bring it up in the Faculty meeting, Erin will announce it at the Student Senate meeting, and we can also use the faculty –L, Inside Gustavus, etc. Coca- Cola Educational Partnership Funding is the title of the information.
Student Presentations
Lucy Tongen presented her information The Real Food Challenge for her Public Discourse Class. Lucy described the Real Foods Challenge, how they define “real food”, and the goal of the organization: to shift the United States food market towards “real food” by using colleges and universities buying power”. Lucy described the commitments to the Real Food Challenge: Annually increase the amount of “real food” purchased each year and have at least 20% real food by 2020 (most places only have 2%), establish a transparent recording system that allows for yearly progress report, have a food system working group that helps to implement the plan, make a real foods policy, an action plan and an annual progress report to be displayed online and increase awareness about food systems. Lucy did note that Gustavus currently does meet many of the food standards, she is questioning if we are not marketing it to our advantage. Gustavus did receive an A in the sustainability survey. Lucy brought up two proposals: increase signage in The Market Place. Recognize October 24 as National Foods Day.
The real food challenge is not just about food, it is about students being aware and being active and thinking about where there food comes from. We would also be able to quantify our success online with the real food challenge with the tools they have on line. It was noted that Gustavus has some great food policies already in place. Questions raised: who does the work to meet the real school challenge (the dining service would be responsible). One of the cons of the Real Food Challenge is the amount of paperwork involved to say you are a part of the Real food Challenge – for example, what if we are already doing 50% of sustainability. Yes, it would be a great marketing tool. The first step may be to look at the reporting process – and create an effort of the work required and what does it take to maintain it. KC wants this to be student driven and have work done by the students – we are trying to be more action oriented out of this group. How does this group support the efforts of the students? The question was raised, if we are already doing such a great job on our campus, do we really need to create more work for ourselves with this project, or would another project give us what we need? So perhaps The Real Food Challenge is not the best model to fit our needs.
Luke Fanning presented his information on food waste for his Public Discourse Class. Luke noted that 33 million tons of food was thrown away in 2010. Luke also works in the dish room so he sees firsthand what is being wasted by students. Luke has a few poster designs that could be placed by the conveyor belts where students put there trays, educating students on the importance of not wasting foods. Luke is wanting something students can relate to and bring it closer to home. Are students more interested in what is on their food account vs. what they are wasting? Is there a way to combine the two of them, the global effect and the personal effect? Luke would like to continue the project as the semester ends. A few ideas were thrown about – can we educate students at the front end of the line vs. the back end. Lisa referenced Middlebury and how they do it in regards to waste. The sorting will happen once we start the composting.
Fair Trade
Amy and Tyler, students of the class Politics of Developing Nations presented their information on helping to make Gustavus a Fair Trade campus, their class has already been investigating fair trade and Margo has been helpful as well. Amy notes the certification process has been started. She notes that you have to build a team (faculty, administration, dining service); we have gotten one of the badges (sell 2 fair items at every location). Create student awareness and education. Amy and Tyler discussed their idea for next semester which would be to show the movie “The Dark Side of Chocolate” to create awareness. They would also like to sample the Fair Trade chocolate from Divine (which is sold in the Book Mart) to make students more aware of how good the chocolate does taste. The final step for being certified – a resolution saying that you will work harder on campus – and add as many products as we can. Another component was not only with food but with athletics (sports balls), clothing, and having other items available. This is not only about food. This is a student driven initiative. Fair Trade USA has great ideas and ways to get the campus community involved. Amy will provide a link for the Kitchen Cabinet and anyone is welcome to sign up.
Sustainability Chair
It was brought up that a Sustainability Chair for Student Senate would be really helpful at this point to help coordinate, support and develop these ideas.
Peanut butter
The question was asked about having a pump for the peanut butter (peanut butter is currently in the portion controlled packs). At present Steve has been unable to find one that is commercially appropriate. It was mentioned that the Physics Department is interested in developing something that could be used. If there were a dispenser, similar to the ketchup dispenser, that would be great. Hats off to the Physics Department or whoever else has ideas for a peanut butter dispenser.