Stanford Hosts 10th Annual Menus of Change University Research Collaborative Meeting
This year, the 10th annual Menus of Change University Research Collaborative (MCURC) meeting was held at Stanford University. Over 160 staff and faculty from universities around the United States and the United Kingdom came to campus October 3-4 to visit Stanford’s Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) facilities and discuss climate-focused innovation and environmental justice in the food sector.
MCURC is a group of forward-thinking scholars, executive chefs, and school administrators dedicated to advancing sustainable and healthy dining using evidence-based research and education. The collaboration was founded by Stanford R&DE, the Stanford Prevention Research Center, and The Culinary Institute of America and now consists of 284 members from 63 colleges and universities, three contract companies, three ex officio organizations, and five Research Collaborator organizations.
This year’s two-day meeting was themed “Fostering Community through Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging–and the Power of Food” and showcased diverse guest speakers who presented on climate-smart dining, food as medicine, and supporting Black farmers. R&DE Stanford Dining, Hospitality, and Auxiliaries (SDHA) provided tastings from their team of talented chefs and gave tours of the living laboratories on campus.
One of the most memorable events in the program was a Fireside Chat with Dean Arun Majumdar, PhD, of the Doerr School of Sustainability, that was moderated by Shirley Everett, EdD, MBA, Senior Associate Vice Provost, Residential & Dining Enterprises, Senior Advisor to the Provost on Equity and Inclusion, Founder of the Stanford Food Institute, and MCURC Co-Founder. During the discussion, Dean Majumdar shared his vision for sustainability and creating a more healthy and equitable food system in the 21st Century.
Another highlight was the “Black Farmers Purchasing Program” panel, which showed the many ways SDHA is working with and supporting Black farmers through their innovative program, Equitable Harvest, a groundbreaking initiative making important strides toward rectifying historical injustices and ensuring a brighter future for Black farmers by fostering economic empowerment and providing equitable access to resources and information.
The MCURC also announced some exciting data. Between 2019-2022, MCURC member institutions tracked over 200 million pounds of protein purchases and saw a collective 24.3% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions per pound of food purchased among participating institutions. This represents over 97% progress toward the Collective Impact target goal set in 2019 to reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions across the MCURC by 25% by 2030. With the substantial progress already made, the MCURC has extended its target goal to a 40% reduction by 2030.
R&DE was happy to host a successful event and looks forward to seeing more progress for the food industry with MCURC in the coming years.
