Lowering the heat: course explores sustainable, healthy food

Some 40 students are completing a course which aims to equip them with good food skills. The University’s Good Food Policy defines this as food and drink that is tasty, healthy, good for the environment and good for the people who make it. 

Each week, students in the Healthy Eating for People and Planet Challenge Course – an elective part of their degree studies – engage with findings from state-of-the-art research, much of it conducted by staff at the University, including the course instructors. 

For example, they recently unpacked data on the carbon footprints of our diets to understand why one-fifth of emissions come from our food systems - this rises to about one-third, if emissions from imported food are included. 

As the course progresses, students are challenged to think critically about the nutrition and climate headlines they see every day in the news and on social media. 

Ultimately, they start to explore answers to some of the most difficult questions of our time. What is the role of meat, dairy and seafood in our diets? What are ultra-processed foods and why might they be bad for our health? How does the Government come up with dietary guidance such as the Eatwell Guide?

The course was developed and is led by Dr Sarah Frank, Lecturer in Data-Driven Innovation in Nutrition and Health in the Division of Global Agriculture and Food Systems. 

One of the modules was delivered in partnership with the university culinary lead, Liam MacDonough, Head of Catering Operations (Kitchens). He led students through the preparation of a flavour-packed vegan protein power bowl. In addition to being delicious, nutritious and sustainable, the recipe was adapted to fit the budget and cooking equipment students have available to them.

In discussing the recipe, students were able to grapple with the trade-offs Mr MacDonough faces each term – on a huge scale –as he and his team develop the menus for University catering. 

These include taste, student preferences, nutrition, allergens, cost, and sourcing from local producers, among others. In completing their first assessment – a three-day sustainable diet plan for themselves or another population of interest – students will apply what they’ve learned about these trade-offs to their own lives.