Food and Drinks

REQUIREMENT: All events where food is provided that are either open to the public or have 30 or more expected attendees must have sufficient vegetarian and vegan options that are comparable to non-vegetarian options, unless doing so would significantly impair the cultural value of the event.

REQUIREMENT: Single-use coffee pods are not permitted in AS spaces. Reusable pods and traditional coffee filters are allowed. All coffee and tea must be certified Fair Trade and/or USDA certified organic.

REQUIREMENT: Absolutely no single-use water bottles may be purchased. The AS Sustainability Coalition is responsible for ensuring that 5-gallon water jugs and dispensing pumps are available for purchase by student groups for event hydration stations.

RECOMMENDATION: AS groups should seek out locally grown, organic, and humanely raised food options whenever feasible.

Helpful Tip! Affordable fair-trade coffee in large to-go containers is available at Coral Tree Cafe and Caje in Isla VIsta!

Food production has a huge social and environmental impact. Food policy, however, is very difficult for organizations like A.S. because most student groups purchase food that has already been prepared rather than the raw ingredients. This makes sourcing food origins and an item’s impacts extremely difficult.

Coffee and tea are particularly important from a social justice perspective: because they are among the top products exported from developing countries to developed countries, their cultivation and marketing practices are vulnerable to abuse. Bananas and chocolate, similarly, are cultivated almost exclusively in the developing world. The A.S. Sustainability Policy focuses specifically on these items to ensure that A.S. can maximize its impact while avoiding a much more cumbersome and complicated food policy.

The easiest way to comply with this rule is to look for these logos when buying products:

When purchasing drinks, avoid single-use water bottles by filling your reusable bottle at the hydration station in the MCC lobby or at one of many other locations on campus, and asking others to do the same. For events, use A.S. Recycling’s water service.