TO THE EDITOR:
This past fall, the DTH ran a few stories, editorials and letters to the editor discussing the sustainable food movement on campus. In particular, there was attention paid to the “Real Food Challenge Campus Commitment”. Unfortunately, some of the dialogue about the commitment misrepresented a few crucial aspects.
The idea of this commitment is to create a formal structure through which the dining services increases the amount of sustainable food on campus. The commitment has been drafted by the Real Food Challenge and currently, students are working with dining services to create a possible appendix to make the commitment more specific to UNC.
However, there are a few central tenets that cannot be changed: achieving 20 percent Real Food by 2020, establishing a transparent reporting system, creating a multi-year action plan and Real Food policy and founding a food systems working group.
To quantify Real Food, the Real Food Challenge has established a Real Food Calculator. The calculator evaluates food in four categories: ecologically sound, community based, fair and humane.
By using this calculator, the percentage of Real Food in the dining halls has already been calculated for the past two years.
For more information about this commitment and sustainable food at UNC, check out the Real Food Campus Commitment Kickoff meeting today at 6 p.m. in the Campus Y Lounge. Or see: http://realfoodchallenge.org/commitment, flofood.weebly.com. or email realfoodunc@gmail.com.
Suzanne Fleishman
FLO (Fair, Local, Organic) Food