Dining Hall meals typically change daily, so this was for 4/12/2009

Salad: Mixed green lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, kidney beans, corn, artichoke hearts, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Cheese Pizza: Pizza Dough (High Gluten Flour, Water, Olive Oil Blend, Yeast, Salt, Sugar), Mozzarella Cheese, Pizza Sauce (Tomato, Tomato Puree, Olive Oil, Garlic Salt, Basil Leaf, Pepper, Oregano), Herbed Olive Oil (Olive Oil Blend, Garlic, Basil Leaf, Parsley, Crushed Red Pepper, Sea Salt, Rosemary, Thyme, Pepper) Linguini with Shrimp Sauce: Linguini Pasta (Semolina Flour, Water, Liquid Eggs, Sea Salt), Milk, Mushroom, Green Onion, Margarine, Flour, Parsley, White Pepper, Paprika Source: UCLA Dining Services: Menu and Nutritional Information

 Where did this food come from?  Is it cooked within the dining halls?  How much food is thrown out daily?  What does composting mean?  Are these tray-less programs actually working?  Is there a large abundance of corn in my meal as Michael Pollan described?

 According to Robert Gilbert Sustainability Programs Director at UCLA, UCLA food comes from multiple locations. UCLA purchases the food from Sisco who obtains it from multiple sources, including World Produce for our organic food. Is was not specified if there were many local markets involved, however one could assume that it is a mix of suppliers.

 Yes, all food is prepared in the dining halls during each meal period. There are very few items that are pre-prepared. I saw the dining staff making pizzas and putting them in the oven along with cooking rice, noodles, meat, vegetables, and other ingredients used for specific plates.

 According to both Robert Gilbert and E3 (an environmental group on campus), it is averaged out that ¼ of a pound of food is lost per person per day.  This is a large amount of waste that should be avoided. Future programs to reduce food waste on campus include custom made meals where students choose what they want and how much, and monitors within each dining hall so that students can visually monitor their waste.

An option for what to do with wasted food is composting. Composting is defined as a mixture of decaying substances, used for fertilizing soil. What is done for UCLA composting is that the food of each plate is scrapped off a plate and goes through an entire system where it is crushed and added with water to create a sludge like result. It is then transported off-site to Victorville which is where most LA composting goes.

 Currently, all four dining halls compost their waste.  UCLA has also made the food cartons, and to-go utensils out of compostable or biodegradable materials.

 Currently Hedrick Hall is the only dining hall that has got completely tray-less except for the trays used to hold the dirty plates, glasses and utensils when students leave. These trays are washed only once a day  It is estimated that the tray-less program is saving 1/5 of a gallon of water per person!  Though this is great savings in water, the monetary savings are actually not significant.  The tray-less program is working and is expected to expand, however there is a concern of how it would succeed in the bigger more populated dining halls.

 If we analyze the corn content in my typical meal corn as Michael Pollan does we find that there is more made of corn than I would have realized.  The pizza’s dough is made from high gluten flour. Gluten is made from corn. And then the mozzarella cheese who most likely came from a cow that was fed corn based feed.  My salad does not consist of corn except for the corn I put on my salad as a topping.  My linguini pasta was made from liquid eggs and flour, most likely from chickens fed corn and flour that contains corn as well.