Students at the University of Denver have complained about the quality of food served by Sodexo, the campus food provider. In response, the university signed an agreement in 2014 called the "Real Food Challenge" to source 20% of campus food from local, sustainable sources by 2020. Currently only 6% of food meets these standards. Students for Sustainable Foods and Sodexo are working to improve this, including by growing herbs hydroponically and in community garden plots to use in campus meals. Their efforts are helping to move the university toward its real food goals despite challenges.

1. Sodexo, the food services
provider employed by the
University of Denver, has come
under fire by students who refer
to the offered food as “Rubbery”,
“Not-quite-thawed-out”, and
“Obviously scraped off the back of
some long-forgotten freezer”.
The fruits and veggies in the
salad bar are often soggy and
limp after being frozen and
defrosted, sometimes several
times in a row.

2. Health and taste conscious students
like Katy Keith often wonder if there
might not be a better way to prepare
food served in the campus dining
halls.
Enter the “Real Food Challenge”
proposed by Students for Sustainable
Foods (SSF) and signed by DU in May
2014.

3. The Real Food Challenge
sets forth the goal of Sodexo
providing 20 percent “real”
food on campus by 2020.
Real food is sustainably and
locally sourced. Ideally the
herbs and veggies used in
these udon noodles would
be grown locally.

4. “Ultimately we’d like to see 100
percent real food on campus, but
we’re taking baby steps. Right
now we’re really pushing for
buying produce and herbs locally,
and for growing them ourselves.”
-Chelsea Sumnere, Students for
Sustainable Foods

5. This hydrotower, installed in the
Centennial Halls Dining Hall, is
part of that ‘growing them
ourselves’. This tower, and the
hard-work of both SSF and
Sodexo staff, will provide fresh
herbs for use in Sodexo dishes
here on campus.

6. In addition to herbs, the
hydrotower will grow lettuce and
cabbage for use in the salad bar.
SSF also has plans for a plot in the
community garden where other
vegetables can be grown.

7. Basil, which is used in a wide variety of Sodexo pasta dishes and
soups, is growing well in the hydrotower.

8. In the community garden plot, SSF would like to grow an
assortment of vegetables including broccoli, zucchini, and
tomatoes.

9. However, one year after the Real
Food Challenge was signed DU is still
far away from meeting its goal.
According to Chelsea Sumnere, only
six percent of the food served on
campus qualifies as Real.
This is a three percent increase from
last year but still far from the 20
percent goal.

10. “This is all a big learning process
for us. We had an accident with the
hydrotower over spring break and
lost a lot of our basil sprouts. But
we’re learning and we’re ready to
keep moving forward. Every year
from here on out will be better.”
-Madi Jones, Students for
Sustainable Foods

11. One of the improvements
that SSF has made to the
hydrotower is adding this
solar light to help the sprouts
grow. Already things are
taking a turn for the better.

12. SSF member Bianca
Garcia checks the
hydrotower water before
adding a mixture of
nutrients and plant food
to help the plants grow.
With the commitment of
SSF and Sodexo, the Real
Food Challenge is still on
track and underway.

13. Over the course of the next few years, more and more of the Sodexo fruit
and salad bars will be locally-source, maybe even campus-grown,
produce, benefitting both local farmers and hungry DU students.

14. Until then, DU students should rest
assured knowing that a dedicated
group of students and staff are
fighting hard to improve dining
conditions and food quality.
Students not content to simply sit
tight are encouraged to join SSF
Wednesday nights at Six PM in the
Jmac sustainability office.