Every year, the student Sustainability Committee run a campaign on a topic related to sustainability that they feel passionate about. The committee chose to focus on the theme of sustainable food this year, running a whole range of fantastic events and activities in March as part of their campaign called Sustainable Food for All. In total, 810 students got involved in this campaign! 

The aim of the campaign was to increase education and accessibility for sustainable food, equipping students with the skills and knowledge to eat more sustainably. They ran eight amazing activities to bring a diverse range of students together around the theme of sustainable food, such a cooking class, a talk and quiz about animal agriculture, healthy eating outreach stalls and a bring and share cultural event with UWE Global.

The Sustainability Committee are currently in the process of creating a student-led recipe book with affordable and sustainable recipes which will be finished in the summer. If you’d like to be involved, send us your plant-powered recipes for the chance of having your recipe included in our very own Sustainable Student Cookbook. Just submit your recipe using this form. If you send us a recipe, you’ll also be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win one of five £20 Ethical Superstore Vouchers!

Here is a sneak peek at some of the designs by Zoe Williams (MA in Graphic Arts at UWE)

Key Highlights of the Campaign Week

Healthy and Sustainable Eating Stall at Frenchay, Bower and Glenside:

Students had the chance to make a healthy and delicious peddle powered smoothie on our famous Smoothie Bike and share their thoughts on sustainable food at UWE, we've used this feedback to inform our work on sustainable food. Once they’d done the survey, they could then spin the wheel to win some sustainable prizes such as vegan cook books, really good quality metal lunchboxes, fruit, vegan snack bars, or a sustainable food poster!

"This has been absolutely incredible, I've had the best time, look at my winnings, I've got this tasty smoothie and an amazing lunchbox - I love it so much"

"This is amazing, I love this so much, please do this again, such a fun way to get students to think about health and sustainability, I am so pleased with my new vegan cook book, I need more inspiration!"

Sustainable Sri Lankan Cooking Class

We ran a cooking class to teach 25 students how to make vegan authentic Sri Lankan curry, which was a super tasty free dinner made from sustainable produce with organic veggies from a local farm.

“I ate winter squash for first time and it was fantastic, it's definitely inspired me to be more experimental with my cooking”

"It was so fun, it’s my first time cooking Sri Lankan food and I really liked it, I will make that recipe again, for sure" – Aulia

A Taste of Home: bring and share with UWE Global

Students from a whole array of cultures and countries brought in a sustainable version of a dish, snack or drink from their home. About 150 other students joined the event to have some free food and meet students from other cultures.

When students were making or buying the food, we asked for it to be sustainable in one or more of the following ways: vegan / vegetarian, local and seasonal vegetables or items, some plastic free ingredients, some organic ingredients, some Fairtrade ingredients.

“This event was so beautiful! More of this please.” 

“Great idea and executed perfectly”.

“I just loved the whole event. I had so many delicious and tasty foods after I left my home. Really enjoyed a lot. Thank you so much for all your effort”.

“This event was wonderful and it was delightful to try various sustainable food from around the world. Thank you, team, for the wonderful effort to bring us all together and share this joy”.

We had food from so many different places: Denmark, Brazil, India, Kuwait, Persia / Iran, Sri Lanka, France, Taiwan, Britain, Pakistan and Nigeria.

Solidarity Supper: Fundraiser for Earthquakes in Turkey

We collaborated with Turkish students and managed to raise £150 for a charity working on the ground in Turkey to provide food, shelter and medical supplies for those who were most impacted by the earthquakes. This was a pay-as-you-feel vegan Turkish meal at The Students' Union bar with an enormous selection of Turkish treats such as Turkish delights.

How Animal Agriculture Impacts on the Climate Crisis

This was a talk, quiz and social at a lovely plant shop and events space in Bristol called the Oak & Reed. It was all about the impact of animal agriculture on the climate crisis by Klaus Mitchell, the director and founder of Plant Based News, the world's leading vegan media platform. The event was a collaboration between students at UWE and the University of Bristol, and it was great to share ideas about sustainable food and build stronger relationships between the two universities.

"A fantastic, thought-provoking talk which highlighted exactly how detrimental animal agriculture is to the environment, and how it is one of the most pressing concerns of our time."

You can read more about who the sustainability committee are here. Look out for more of their events on sustainable food as we are hoping to plan some more soon, follow the Green Team on Instagram to stay up to date.

To finish, here are some top tips about sustainable food from SOS-UK’s Sustainable Food Guide, adapted by Zoe Williams (MA in Graphic Arts at UWE):