Plant-Based Universities wins council vote on plant-based catering
Activist group passed motion calling for 50% of all food offered on campus to become plant-based.
Union Council passed an amendment calling for all university food outlets to “serve 50% plant-based options” by the 2027–28 academic year, with a 10% cumulative increase to plant-based offerings annually. The paper also called for the Union to endorse Plant-Based Universities’ (PBU) campaign for 100% plant-based catering, and for the Union to include “a requirement in future contracts” for all external providers to follow the plant-based motion in its catering venues.
Plant-Based Universities is an “international network of students” campaigning for plant-based catering at universities. According to its website the campaign is active in over “50 institutions,” including the University of Cambridge and University College London. A previous attempt by the Imperial branch of the group calling for the Union to lobby for an immediate shift to 100% plant-based catering failed to pass at Union Council in April 2024.
The paper caused much discussion, with several council members raising amendments or objections to the paper. In order to answer questions relating to health and nutrition, the PBU campaigners had arranged for Dr Daisy Lund, a General Practitioner and final-year Medicine student tutor, to attend the meeting. She answered several questions related to the necessity of meat in diets, explaining that western diets contained a surplus of proteins but were deficient in fibre.
ICU Ethics and Environment Officer and principal PBU campaigner Hollie Meyers, who also authored the paper, said, “We are overjoyed to see our fellow students join calls for Imperial to show that it takes the climate crisis seriously and begin the move toward cheap, nutritious, and delicious plant-based menus. Animal farming and fishing are wrecking the planet and the lives of millions across the globe and now is the time to take a definitive step towards a plantbased future.”
