Facing food facts with a farewell to red meat
- Written byCat Cooper
- Published date 11 April 2023
As we work to meet our climate commitments, at Central Saint Martins we want to acknowledge critical conversations about the impact of our food on our planet. UAL Regenesis is a campaign by our students calling for the transition to a plant, mushroom and regenerative food supply on UAL sites. We’re also learning from Catalyst, a series of gatherings, workshops, conversations and interventions by our Climate Emergency Network that embed the University’s Climate Action Plan in our College communities. Catalyst helps us think about a world that is not only “for us”, but one that elevates animals, plants and the wider ecosystems we rely on.
Globally, beef and lamb are the leading animal and food products contributing to greenhouse gases (source: Carbon Brief). When all factors are combined, their production releases more greenhouse gases than any other food, including other animal proteins like pork, fish, chicken or milk. Our food service plays an important role in our community and College practices, so from Summer term 2023, we’ve decided we’ll no longer serve red meat in the CSM canteen. Red meat made up only 2.8% of our total dishes before so this is not a huge change, but it can be a meaningful step forward.
We are thankful to our colleagues in UAL Catering who run our food service for helping us to make this change, working with our suppliers Baxter Storey. Our food service reflects who we are, serving freshly-made and locally sourced produce with a 70% vegetarian or vegan menu. That proportion will now increase as some of the red meat will be replaced by vegetables in our dishes. This is a pilot, so let’s make it an experiment to see what effect this change can have, and how we feel about it as a community. We’d love to hear from you: regeneratingcsm@arts.ac.uk