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EatWell
Food and Nutrition
Pod Leader: Amy Rowat, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Integrative Biology and Physiology GSR: Hannah Malan, M.S.
Mission
The mission of the EatWell pod is to make fresh and whole foods accessible to the entire UCLA community while promoting knowledge about the foods we eat and where they come from.
Objectives:
- Promote food literacy
- Support short- and long-term solutions for campus food security
- Support learning in the broader community
- Expand campus food offerings, including gardens and edible landscapes
In the 2016 - 2017 academic year, EatWell made strong progress towards these objectives by supporting both new and continued collaborations with a range of campus and external partners. Our efforts focused largely on responding to priorities identified through rigorous research and diverse stakeholder engagement. We promoted food knowledge and skills, emphasizing environmental awareness and practical skills; supported food security as a campuswide priority; expanded connections with community partners; and helped create new opportunities for the campus to eat, grow, and share healthy, sustainable food.
Objective 1: Promote food literacy
EatWell is a champion on campus for academic, experiential, and programmatic efforts that encourage deeper engagement with food. Our goals are to improve nutrition knowledge and skills, and to highlight the complex and interdisciplinary role of food in our lives. We employ strategies that support practical skills and resources to enhance personal wellbeing as well as opportunities for intellectual development.
Food Day 2016 In celebration of national Food Day on October 24, 2016, EatWell hosted, supported, and promoted a variety of events and activities throughout the week (Table 1). Most notably, EatWell collaborated with partners on campus and across the UC system to execute a campaign focused on educating students,
EatWell GSR Hannah Malan and UCLA Dining Chefs set up a “flexitarian” meal at a Food Day event.
faculty, staff, and community members about the carbon footprint – or “foodprint” – of what we eat. A focus group study conducted by EatWell members in Spring 2016 revealed that students appreciate and pay attention to food information delivered in simple and visually attractive ways on campus. The campaign featured an innovative infographic (Figure 1); a complementary panel discussion; promotional and follow-up blog posts; and a custom webpage with additional information about food and sustainability efforts on campus. A .jpg version of the infographic is available for download at: http://bit.ly/2wFiwTd.
Table 1. Food Week Calendar of Events
#FoodDay2016 #UCFoodForAll #healthyUCLA
Monday, 10/24 Tuesday, 10/25 Wednesday, 10/26 Sunday, 10/
Food Day Panel: Understanding the ‘Foodprint’ of What We Eat
“Flexitarian” lunch provided by UCLA Dining + cricket tasting!
Panel discussion with Dana Hunnes, Ph.D., R.D.; Jenny Jay, Ph.D.; and Elliot Mermel, Coalo Valley Farm
Emeran Mayer ‘Mind-Gut Connection’ Talk + Film Screening
Mediterranean lunch provided by UCLA Dining
Film screening of seven student short films about food
Talking Trash: Oral Histories of Food In/Security from the Margins of a Dumpster
_Talk by Rachel Vaughn
- Fighting Hunger Fair (EatWell table)_
CookWell Demo at University Village
Food demonstration by Eve Lahijani and students from the Public Health Nutrition Club
Dannon yogurt giveaway
Hidden In Plain Bite: The Surprising Impact of Our Food Choices
Talk by Nora Kramer, Factory Farm Awareness Coalition
CookWell Demonstration at the Campus Farmers’ Market
Food demonstration by students from the Public Health Nutrition Club
Dannon yogurt giveaway
Highlights include the following: ● Pod leader Amy Rowat and GSR Hannah Malan collaborated with Professor Jennifer Jay to develop an infographic illustrating an ingredient-level carbon footprint analysis of two burritos: one made with animal proteins, including beef and cheese, and the other made with vegetables. ● EatWell partnered with UCLA Dining, UCLA Library, and Ronald Reagan (RR) Medical Center to disseminate over 400 infographic table tents in dining halls, libraries, and the RR cafeteria.
and sharing information with friends and family. Overall, respondents liked the diversity of speakers and perspectives, the “flexitarian” food provided, the infographic, and the discussion of food efforts/groups on campus.
Science & Food Public Event Produced in collaboration with Science & Food and the UC Global Food Initiative, this popular series of interactive events explores topics in food through the lens of science. Over the past five years, lectures have featured world-renowned chefs and scientists and attracted thousands of participants from throughout Southern California and beyond. This year, the event was billed in conjunction with the month-long LA Times Food Bowl. Esteemed chef and food waste visionary Massimo Bottura was among the panelists at the May 2nd event. Chef Bottura’s Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, has been named one of the world’s best restaurants, and he recently founded a nonprofit, Food for Soul (www.foodforsoul.it), to promote social awareness about food wastage and hunger.
. Left: Professor Jenny Jay discusses the environmental impacts of food waste during the Science & Food public event. Right: Chef and food waste visionary Massimo Bottura speaks during the Science & Food public event.
The panel discussion, entitled “Food Waste: Solutions Informed by Science (And What to Do With Your Leftovers),” attracted approximately 325 attendees from campus and beyond. Evan Kleiman, KCRW host of Good Food and HCI-funded lecturer of the undergraduate course “We are all stardust: the moral ecology of food,” moderated the panel, with panelists including UCLA Professor Jennifer Jay and City of Burbank Recycling Expert Amy Hammes, in addition to Chef Bottura. The discussion focused on measuring the environmental effects of food waste, how policy influences food waste, and its relationship to hunger and the environment. Pod leader Amy Rowat hosted the event and GSR Hannah Malan created an infographic with food waste facts and tips for reducing waste at home (Figure 2). A .jpg version of the infographic is available for download at: http://bit.ly/2vFezkg.
The large majority of survey respondents (n=65) indicated they gained knowledge/skills, would attend a similar event in the future, and were likely to apply the knowledge/skills gained. In open- ended responses, respondents said they would take specific actions following the event, such as being more conscious of food purchases to reduce waste, making an effort to use purchased produce, using green bins, and sharing information with colleagues and friends. Overall, participants liked the opportunity to hear from the celebrity chef and enjoyed the diversity of
information/perspectives provided by the panelists. Suggestions for improvement included providing more scientific information and ensuring equal speaking time for the panelists.
Figure 2. Food Waste Infographic
- February 22 - Fielding School of Public Health: 15 attendees (graduate students and faculty)
- May 24 - Fielding School of Public Health: 15 attendees (graduate students and faculty)
- May 24 – UCLA Farmers’ Market: 50+ attendees (undergraduate and graduate students)
Another priority of the club includes hosting local and national Public Health Nutrition leaders in a quarterly colloquia series, sponsored by UCLA Partners in Excellence for Leadership in Maternal and Child Health Nutrition. These colloquia are meant to emphasize the fundamental importance of maternal and child health nutrition and to inform and educate the UCLA community on critical food and nutrition issues and areas of innovation.
Maternal Child Health and Nutrition Colloquia:
- Fall 2016: Helen O'Connor from Choose Health LA- 9 attendees
- Winter 2017: Clare Fox from LA Food Policy Council- 23 attendees
- Spring 2017: Robert Egger from L.A. Kitchen- 16 attendees
Teaching Kitchens In the 2016 – 2017 academic year, EatWell members were instrumental in the establishment of a Teaching Kitchen program at UCLA. See the Food Initiative section for more details.
EatWell Guide To address the demand among students for a trusted, go-to guide for eating well-- as we identified through our focus groups (Watson et al., 2017) -- EatWell is developing a holistic guide to eating. Resources such as the USDA MyPlate and the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate provide nutritional information; however, food choices involve multiple factors ranging from nutrition to environmental impact to enjoyment, and there is currently no guide to eating that reflects these rich and varied facets of food. EatWell identified this as an opportunity to create a more holistic guide that reflects the diverse food-related expertise, interests, and values among our group members. In Spring 2017, we established a working group to develop the holistic guide as a starting point for additional resources that could address specific aspects of food literacy, such as grocery shopping, building a healthy plate in the dining hall, reading nutrition labels, and/or learning about sustainable seafood. The working group has already completed multiple rounds of input and revisions, and aims to complete the guide for dissemination in early 2018.
Professional Presentations and Publications In effort to share findings and lessons learned with the broader community, EatWell members have produced the following presentations and manuscripts for professional audiences and peer- reviewed journals:
- Malan, H., Slusser, W., Rowat, A., Watson, T., Roth, S., & Wang, M. “Creating a Culture of Eating Well: UCLA’s Collaborative Approach.” Panel presentation at AFHVS/ASFS Annual Meeting and Conference (June 14-17, 2017).
- Watson, T., Malan, H. “The Student Food Struggle: Understanding Food Insecurity and Food Literacy Among University Students.” Panel presentation at the Southern California Public Health Association Annual Conference (December 14, 2016).
- Watson, T., Malan, H., Glik, D., & Martinez, S. “College students identify university support for basic needs and life skills as key ingredient in addressing student food insecurity.” (Accepted for publication, California Agriculture, special edition on the UC Global Food Initiative )
- Soh, M., Rowat, A., Malan, H., & Slusser, W. Redefining food literacy: from theory to practice. ( Manuscript in preparation )
Objective 2: Support short- and long-term solutions for campus food security
Food insecurity, the uncertain or limited ability to get adequate food due to lack of financial resources, is a critical student issue that may negatively affect student health and academic outcomes. According to the 2016 UC GFI Student Food Access and Security Study, about 40% of surveyed UCLA students reported experiencing food insecurity in the last 12 months. Of those students experiencing food insecurity, about 23% reported low food security (reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet) and 16% reported very low food security (disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake). Food insecurity was higher among undergraduate students compared to graduate students and substantially higher among minority students. The prevalence of food insecurity among UCLA students is similar to UC students systemwide.
GFI Food Security Working Group The Food Security Working Group functions as part of the UC Global Food Initiative (GFI) Basic Needs Committee which has working groups on each UC campus. This past year, the GFI Basic Needs Committee has expanded beyond the 10 UC campuses 238,000 students to reach an additional 460,000 socioeconomically diverse students attending California's 23 state university campuses and 2.4 million students attending California's 114 community colleges.
The UCLA working group has been fully functioning for two years and continues to be chaired by Community Programs Office (CPO) Director Antonio Sandoval with support from multiple CPO staff including Emilio Hernandez, Chidera Izuchukwu, Russell Castro, and others. Additional support and program evaluation was provided by public health doctoral candidate, Tyler Watson. Several members of EatWell are also part of the food security working group to help coordinate and support efforts. This year the working group received $151,000 from the UC Office of the President to address student food insecurity, double the funding of the previous year (ee Appendix XVII for a breakdown of how these funds were spent). HCI provided additional support for programs and student staff. The membership continued to increase and added stakeholders from across campus, as well as the broader community, including West Los Angeles College and Santa Monica College. We hosted working group lunch meetings at the Student Activities Center about twice per quarter. The meetings provided a space for updates and networking as well as discussion of new efforts.
Additionally, the Graduate Student Association (GSA) has hired a Basic Needs Director who will be joining the Food Security Working Group. An effort was initiated this year to launch a basic needs website resource for students.
CPO Food Closet The CPO Food Closet (http://www.cpo.ucla.edu/cpo/foodcloset/) was created in 2009 as a direct response to the economic downturn to provide a designated campus space to provide free food for students in need. The food closet changed leadership this year and is now managed by Chidera Izuchukwu and a team of CPO staff. The closet underwent a renovation in Fall 2016 to add refrigeration and additional storage capacity for perishable items and now regularly distributes fruit, vegetables, eggs, dairy, and other high nutrient foods. The food closet remains heavily utilized by students, as well as some staff, and is restocked several times per day. The food closet also started a grocery bundle program to help students who have an ongoing need for food assistance. The program accepted applications and enrolled 24 students in Fall 2016 and 28 students in Winter
- Students received a week’s worth of groceries throughout the quarter. The food closet also explored a satellite food pantry idea, but the project is currently on hold pending the participation of other campus partners. In 2017 - 18, the CPO student lounge will undergo renovations to
CalFresh Outreach CalFresh (federally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) is a government entitlement program that provides monthly food benefits to assist low-income households in purchasing the food they need to maintain adequate nutritional levels. This year CalFresh became a priority of the Food Security Working Group because it is an underutilized resource that can provide up to $194 for food purchases per month to students in need who qualify for the program. College students are eligible if they meet one of several criteria (mycalfresh.org/students/) including if they are approved for state or federal work-study money. Three undergraduate interns were hired to work on outreach efforts, and a Master of Social Work student assisted the effort through her work with 580 Café. Several consultations occurred with students utilizing 580 Café. The interns met with campus stakeholders from the Bruin Resource Center to align outreach efforts, particularly from the Students with Dependents program. The interns also did outreach through “lecture storming” to announce the resource at the start of classes. The interns held a campuswide outreach day on May 31, 2017.
Farmers’ Market Gleaning and Distribution Program The Farmers’ Market Gleaning and Distribution Program was launched in Fall 2015 by GFI Fellows Savannah Gardner and Tyler Watson and continues to serve students on a weekly basis. Working with the nonprofit partner Food Forward (foodforward.org), UCLA students (primarily from Swipe Out Hunger) volunteer at a farmers’ market gleaning in West Los Angeles each Sunday afternoon. A
majority of the produce is delivered to University Village graduate student housing, and a smaller portion, consisting of grab-and-go fruit, is delivered to 580 Café and the CPO Food Closet. University Apartments South Resident Association (UASRA) coordinates the distribution at University Village and tracks attendance, while Food Forward tracks pounds of food delivered. This year, . Gardner received HCI support to continue coordinating this program and . Watson assisted with data collection and reporting. The program averages about 430 pounds of produce each week and to date has delivered over 26,000 pounds since starting in October 2015. On averageǡ about 34 graduate and professional students (or their spouses) pick up at University Village each week. The Public Health Nutrition Club (PHNC) now hosts quarterly food demonstrations for graduate students waiting in line at University Village to show simple, healthy snacks and meals using fresh, seasonal produce.
The weekly produce distribution at University Village graduate housing.
Food Recovery Campus food recovery efforts continued through 2016 - 17 with a focus on moving towards formalizing food recovery options. USAC Facilities Commission was regularly picking up unsold baked goods from ASUCLA cafes, and this effort has now been transferred to the Food Security Coordinators. The Fielding School of Public Health (FSPH) is piloting a schoolwide recovery program that includes a new refrigerator, an administrative point person to deliver food after campus events and track deliveries, a student group to maintain the refrigerator, and an email notification system. Additionally, UCLA Dining is currently exploring options for residential restaurant food recovery. Different options for campus catering are also being explored, including adding information about food donations and including to-go containers in catering contracts.
Mobile Teaching Kitchen The Food Security Working Group coordinated with the newly implemented HCI Teaching Kitchen Collaborative to plan for a mobile teaching kitchen that could be utilized at different campus locations. Several meetings occurred in addition to the regular working group to solicit input for a custom-built cart. CPO also explored the idea of a teaching kitchen van or food truck concept that would have a range beyond the campus.
Food for Finals USAC Facilities Commission distributes healthy snacks to students during the 10th week (finals week) of each quarter to help nourish studying students at libraries on campus. Several hundred students receive snacks each quarter and the program has expanded this year with additional support. A separate but related effort is the Bruin Resource Center’s De-Stress Study Fest, which distributes fruit and granola bars to hundreds of students during finals.
Holiday Food Boxes In Fall 2016, CPO formally implemented a holiday food box distribution to help students who have a need during the Thanksgiving and Winter Breaks. Each box contained food items for a full holiday meal, plus additional food items for the duration of the holiday break. Boxes were distributed for Thanksgiving (300 boxes) and for Winter Break (350 boxes).
Student Grocery Cooperative The Student Food Collective (SFC) aims to provide fresh, delicious, sustainable food for the UCLA community, celebrate the artistic and cultural vibrancy of our campus, and bring people together (studentfoodcollectiveatucla.weebly.com). This year, one student intern was hired through GFI funding and another was supported by HCI to work with SFC towards the goal of starting a student- owned, co-operatively run market and café. The market/café will operate with the goals of educating students about food systems, training students to manage a sustainable business, and provide a warm, welcoming space where people can come to learn and be part of a community. Last year, the student interns were successful in securing a 5th floor space in Kerckhoff Hall. This year, the interns and SFC worked with campus Environmental Health & Safety to identify needed renovations to make the space food safe, and renovations for the floor were scheduled. SFC has expanded its membership and continues biweekly organic bulk produce orders for students, and also tables with the UCLA Farmers’ Market.
See the Food Security Working Group’s full end of year report here: http://bit.ly/2vjox8s.
Vertical Tower Garden Thanks to the leadership of Mr. Angelis; Al Ferrone, Senior Director, UCLA Dining; Emma Sorrell, Sustainability Manager for Housing and Hospitality Services; and the rest of the UCLA Dining team, UCLA is now home to the Bruin Plate Tower Garden, a vertical garden installation with 50 aeroponic towers that supply leafy greens and herbs for the Bruin Plate residential restaurant. The goal of the garden is to connect students to the source of their food and to educate them on innovative ways to grow food. Each of the towers can accommodate 44 plants, allowing 2,200 plants to grow simultaneously. After installation in April 2017, the first harvest yielded a remarkable 164 pounds of produce that supplied one lunch at the Bruin Plate salad bar. Most leafy greens and herbs can be harvested within three-four weeks (up to four times faster than conventional soil farming), and one quarter of the towers are harvested each week, providing a consistent supply of greens. Due to the recirculation system, produce grown on the towers consumes only 5% of the water needed for conventional farming and requires only 10% of the land area of conventional farming. Produce is 100% organically grown without pesticides or herbicides, contributing to Bruin Plate’s portfolio of locally grown, organic, and vegan meals. The garden is located 112 steps away from the LEED Gold Certified Bruin Plate Dining Hall – that’s about as local as you can get. The tower structures themselves are designed to last decades, facilitating sustainable food production for years to come.
Blended Burger Patties Aligned with efforts to prioritize plant-based protein over red meat, UCLA Dining Senior Director Al Ferrone has been experimenting with burger patty recipes containing various combinations of beef and plant (mushrooms and lentils) proportions. Dining purchased the blending machine, tested the first blend at 80% beef/20% plant, and is currently working on getting the ratio down to 75% beef. Ronald Reagan Medical Center’s dining leadership has also expressed interest in adopting the blended burgers when the recipe is finalized.
Participation in HCI’s Annual Celebration
As part of the 2017 HCI Annual Celebration: #Dream Revolution, EatWell hosted a Dream Revolution-themed “flavor trip” experience. The mindful eating exercise featured Miracle Berry tablets made from miracle fruit, which contain a protein that changes how the sweet and sour
EatWell members tour the new vertical tower garden.
EatWell volunteers engage participants in a “flavor trip” exercise at HCI’s Annual Celebration.
receptors in our mouths respond to acids and sweets. EatWell volunteers instructed participants to taste lemon or lime wedges before and after dissolving the tablets in their mouths. The result was a fun and mind-boggling exercise that excited the senses and made for thoughtful conversations about flavor and food science.
In addition, GSR Hannah Malan conducted an interview with celebrity chef and co-founder of Kogi BBQ Truck and LocoL restaurant, Roy Choi, who provided food for the event. The interview, which featured Choi’s commentary on food justice and how to eat well on a budget, was featured in a blog on Huffington Post (www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roy-choi-serves-up-locol-at-ucla-and-tells-us- how_us_5907ef31e4b03b105b44bb9b).
Goals for the 2017 - 2018 Academic Year
● Continue to support and evaluate food literacy and food security strategies Complete the teaching kitchen pilot program evaluation Expand teaching kitchen programming and infrastructure on campus Complete content and graphic design development of EatWell’s holistic eating guide Continue partnership with the Food Security Working Group ● Expand collaboration, service, and information-sharing with the broader community Continue to support the UCLA Law School Food Policy Clinic Complete the pilot of the food-based curriculum at John R. Wooden Continuation High School Share lessons learned with Healthy Campus Network partners Publish and present our work ● Expand and evaluate healthy, plant-based, affordable food options on campus Complete analysis of Flex Bar surveys and food purchase data Explore opportunities to implement evidence-based pricing and procurement strategies Further develop campus garden infrastructure
