Finer Diner: WWF initiative encouraging plant-based eating in universities
Photography by Matilda Singer
WWF launches nationwide campaign with Sodexo to promote sustainable eating among students.
WWF visited UCL on 7th and 8th October with their ‘Finer Diner’ pop-up stall offering a variety of free plant-based food samples. WWF is collaborating with Sodexo, the food service company that run the UCL Refectory, to raise awareness of how the food we eat impacts the environment and to promote plant-based eating among students.
WWF and Sodexo launched their Finer Diner tour at UCL. Throughout this month, WWF and Sodexo will be visiting campuses across the country with Finer Diner. After UCL, the tour will stop at four other universities: York St John, Coventry, Southampton Solent and Dublin.
Photography by Mia Lui
The initiative focuses on mobilising the student population to include more plant-based food in their diets, and is raising awareness of WWF and their commitment to sustainability. It is ultimately working towards greater availability and variety of plant-based meals at university cafes. As younger generations increasingly embrace climate change activism, they are more likely to turn towards planet-friendly diets.
According to WWF, food accounts for almost 60% of the global loss of biodiversity. Meat and dairy products are particularly harmful, contributing to increased CO2 emissions and deforestation. Reducing meat and dairy consumption and choosing more plant-based ingredients could help lower greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in the next decade.
Photography by Matilda Singer
On 7th and 8th October, UCL students could find the WWF pop-up on the ground floor of the Student Centre, where they could taste samples of plant-based meals and find out more about how food affects our planet. Through the pop-up, the campaign aims to encourage students to sample and enjoy plant-based alternatives to meals typically served in student restaurants. The samples showcase some of the food offered by Sodexo as part of their plant-based range, available on rotation at the UCL Refectory. A meal at the Refectory costs around £5-6 on average.
The pop-up also had an interactive wall with facts detailing the environmental impact of food consumption. The wall included a lever that students could pull down to indicate their pledge to eat less meat. The number of students at UCL who made the pledge was then displayed on the wall, surpassing 200 on 8th October. As the interactive wall also noted, 24% of the global population already actively consume less meat.
Photography by Mia Lui
In the afternoon, the Finer Diner pop-up in the Student Centre served cakes containing the ‘future 50’: 50 ingredients that WWF recommends using to diversify our food sources and achieve a more sustainable food industry.
Finer Diner is funded through WWF’s partnership with Sodexo. Sodexo is one of the world’s largest catering companies, running restaurants in schools, universities and hospitals around the globe. In the UK alone, it serves a million meals each day.
WWF has been working with Sodexo since 2010 to improve the company’s environmental performance. Sodexo has frequently been recognised as one of the most sustainable companies worldwide. In 2018, Sodexo earned Gold Class distinction in RobecoSAM’s annual Sustainability Yearbook, which rewards companies for their efforts in working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.