Food and related issues surrounding sustainability have become important areas of concern at the University of Manitoba. The Campus Food Strategy (.pdf) is a systematic initiative to engage the University community “to ensure that healthy desirable food choices are available at the University and to reduce the negative social, environmental, and economic impacts of the food system”. The Riddell Faculty in consultation with SESES has also debated these issues surrounding food and this has resulted in the Riddell Faculty’s Sustainable Lunch Project.
Firstly, reusable lunch items have been developed to encourage those who bring their own lunches (or other meals) onto campus. Jason Jorgenson (Student Affairs Coordinator) developed the designs for the insulated lunch bag, water bottle, and salad cup (pictured right).
Secondly, occasional articles will appear in this space written by faculty, staff, and students to discuss relative issues such as zero-waste lunches, dietary options, and sustainability. However, keeping in mind that food is one of the great pleasures in life, we intend to maintain a balanced (even light hearted) view. Bon appetit

Over $27 billion dollars worth of food is wasted in Canada every year due to issues surrounding transportation, over production, processing and packaging, however, 51% of that waste occurs in the home. This wastes not only household income but also the resources that were used to produce the food in the first place including water and fertilizer, not to mention farmers’ time and hard work. In addition, as food insecurity and poverty remain pressing issues, wasting food has ethical implications.
	People often throw away food because they forget it in their refrigerators before it spoils; people also throw away food that is still safe and edible but no longer as appealing as when they first purchased it. Often when time is limited people may also over purchase, or resort to take-out when they don’t feel like cooking at the end of the day. Using common sense (no one suggests eating spoiled food) and your creativity, we can reduce waste by using up food before it spoils.

Sauté a leftover half onion (looking a little dried out) in some butter and olive oil. Add two chopped stalks of celery (a bit wilted). A peeled, diced, lonely red potato (the last one in the bag) and the leftover half of a bag of peeled carrots (also looking a little tired). Add water and a stock cube to cover and simmer until tender. Blend, taste, and season with salt and pepper. If you’re in the mood for something different try addition some ground ginger or cumin for a change.

In the end this made six cups of soup and packaged like this can be stored in the freezer and then microwaved.