Programs

UCLA offers a wide variety of non-academic programs and activities to promote healthy living and to feed your hunger for information about food. If you find something to add to this list, please share it with us at eatwell@ucla.edu.

  • Food Day

    • Did you know the carbon footprint of one quarter pounder hamburger is the same as 118 apples? Check this infographic to learn more about the impact of what we eat.

  • Campus Garden

    • The new jane b semel HCI Community Garden, located at the top of the amphitheater at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, has come to life! The garden provides an on-campus space for the UCLA community to grow healthy food and foster education of urban gardening practices. In partnership with the Healthy Campus Initiative, envisioned and supported by Jane and Terry Semel, the initiation of this garden is intended to promote community building and address food insecurity on campus. Learn more about the garden and how to join.
    • Get connected with Dig: Campus Garden Coalition, the student-led collaboration behind the expanding food growing and gardening program on UCLA’s campus that works to educate, engage, and empower the UCLA community through growing our own and bringing people into close proximity with food and medicinal gardens.
    • UCLA’s campus houses two medicinal herb gardens, supported by Jane and Terry Semel and the Lowenstein Foundation. Here are comprehensive catalogs of our medicinal plants by location with their names, traditional medicinal uses and parts of the plants used:
    • Watch a video about the Herb Garden at the Center for Health Sciences
    • Read about our medicinal herb gardens in the news: Hospital’s garden educates using herbal ‘medicine cabinet’
    • Browse campus gardens across the University of California in this beautiful database of student gardens created by former student Ian Davies.

  • CSA Farm Boxes

    • Brought to you by the South Central Farmers Cooperative, fresh farm boxes are available for pickup every week, right on campus! Order your box online (select one of the UCLA locations for pickup)

  • Science + Food

    • This program promotes knowledge of science through food, and food through science. Browse the Science and Food website to earn more about the course and public lecture series.

  • Sustainability

    • Part of healthy eating is a healthy planet, and the choices you make about your food affect our environment. Read up about food and other topics on the Green Living Guide provided by UCLA Sustainability.
    • Learn about UCLA Dining’s innovations and sustainability goals:
      • See what UCLA Dining Services is doing to improve our campus ‘foodprint’ in the dining halls—and beyond. Explore additional facts and sustainability reports through UCLA Sustainability.
        • Green Mondays Campaign
          • Two non-meat entrées served at each residential restaurant
        • Certified Green Restaurants
          • Bruin Plate
          • Rendezvous
        • Tray-free Dining Benefits
          • Reduced water use from washing
          • Reduced energy use needed to heat water
          • Reduced food waste
        • Purchasing
          • Currently, Dining sources approximately 19% of total food purchases from sustainable sources (2015-2016)
          • This sustainable food includes local milk, local fruits, USDA organic fruits and vegetables, and exclusively cage-free, humanely raised eggs
        • Composting & Recycling
          • More than 50 tons of compostable materials are diverted from the landfill each month through a commercial composting program
          • Dining Services generates on average 400 gallons of used cooking oil each month; the used oil is picked up and recycled into biodiesel by a third party company
          • At all four residential restaurants, food scraps from food preparation (e.g. egg shells, vegetable trimmings, etc.) and the post-consumer waste (food left on plates) are separated from non-compostable waste and sent to a composting facility
          • All to-go items at Cafe 1919 can be composted—except for chip bags (which go in the trash)
          • Almost all to-go packaging is either compostable or recyclable
          • Different bins are available all over the hill for composting, recycling, and trash
        • Fair Trade
          • UCLA was designated a fair-trade university in May 2016, read the Daily Bruin article to learn more.

  • UC Global Food Initiative

    • Have you heard about the University of California (UC) Global Food Initiative (GFI)? It deals with one of the most pressing issues of our time: How to sustainably and nutritiously feed a world population expected to reach eight billion by 2025. Visit the Global Food Initiative website. Check back for updates and new information!
    • At UCLA, GFI Fellows are doing inspiring work, such as gleaning produce from the local farmers’ market. Each week UCLA students collect and deliver ~250 lbs. of produce to hungry Bruins, read more in the UCLA Newsroom article.

  • Flex Station

    • In January 2017, UCLA Dining launched the state-of-the-art ‘Flex Station’ at DeNeve. This effort integrates optimal nutrition, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility within the campus food service sector by re-framing the role of plant- based ingredients so that they become the primary source of protein, and animal-based proteins become “condiments” and “flavoring agents.” This strategy has been referred to as the “protein flip” approach and is being used at other institutions working on serving students healthier and more environmentally sustainable food.