The MCURC unites over 300 individuals from over 70 institutions worldwide, including academics, university caterers and organisations dedicated to advancing health and sustainability.
By sharing research and collaboration, this global network helps universities to tackle challenges in food sustainability while also improving the dining experience for students and staff.
The journey to join the MCURC took nearly five years, during which the team showcased its commitment to sustainable dining at King’s. Achievements include:
- Campus menus are now 70% plant-based
- Meals are prepared from scratch using fresh and seasonal ingredients with transparency in sourcing and preparation
- Sustainability efforts include the removal of ruminant meat
- Replacement of dairy milk with fortified pea milk
The ‘innovative’ Root-to-Tip Dining project led by the King’s Living Laboratory team, Dr Gibson and other collaborators across the university played a key role in securing membership. This project aims to ‘transform’ discarded ingredients like pineapple skins and leek roots into nutritious meals, reducing food waste and increasing fibre content.
Graeme Collie, executive chef and King's Food Living Laboratory Food lead, said: “We start by looking at the products we normally use and then challenge ourselves to think differently. We bring four or five chefs into the kitchen, gather a variety of ingredients, and brainstorm. For this project, we ordered a range of produce, identified what we’d usually discard, and asked ourselves, ‘How can we make use of this?”
By joining the MCURC, King’s further cements its commitment to providing healthy and sustainable food, using campus dining as a platform to test research ideas and drive meaningful change.
King’s College London excelled at the 2024 Public Sector Catering Awards. They picked up four accolades including the Health and Nutrition Award, Sustainability Award and University Catering Award as well as Lisa Connellan picking up the Unsung Hero Award.