Culinary Commitments for a Sustainable Food System

From strategic placement of plant-forward options to solving the perfect proportions of meat, poultry, serving utensils, plates, and bowls, Stanford’s dining halls are living laboratories for designing a food experience that makes healthy, sustainable choices easier, desirable, and more attainable.

Campus food

One Plate, One Planet

Each plate served and each meal consumed is an opportunity to create a better future for the planet. Residential & Dining Enterprises’ Stanford Dining demonstrates sustainable, ethical, and healthy food systems can be deployed at scale, while simultaneously inspiring the next generation to improve how Earth’s precious resources are managed.

Acacia Lynch, a senior studying Earth systems

Farms (and Fisheries) to Table

Stanford Dining’s purchasing standards provide sustainable diets and economies. Whenever possible, food from sustainable fisheries and from farms that is agroecological, direct, fair, humane, local, organic, and raised without antibiotics and hormones is purchased.

Herbed Persian cucumber salad with heirloom tomatoes and roasted garlic as part of the plant-based menu in Stanford Dinning.

Taste Tests Beyond the Kitchen

Stanford strategically designs the dining experience to promote nutritious and sustainable food choices. As a co-founder of the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative (MCURC), Stanford’s ideas shift people toward healthier, more sustainable, and delicious foods using evidence-based research. 

The Stanford Flavor Lab researches and develops eating experiences that integrate food biodiversity, works to broaden the techniques of building taste and flavor, and concocts delectable menu items.

The Stanford Food Institute works collaboratively across the university to support food education and research to support a more sustainable food future

Food Too Good to Waste

Project Drawdown ranks reducing food waste the #1 solution for reversing global warming. Stanford’s food recovery program encourages all campus food generators to avoid food waste from the start and distribute any excess to the campus or local community. Students, event planners, and food vendors can address campus food insecurity and reduce waste.

Food Resources