Welcome to our blog! We are LFS (Land and Food Systems) students at UBC (The University of British Columbia) looking to incorporate our classroom learning into the outside world. In this blog, we will be focusing specifically on our chosen project from our course “LFS 350 – Land, Food, and Community”: to audit our campus’ snack and beverage vending machines, find out what students want from them, and help ensure that healthy options are available and easily identifiable.
UBC Campus Taken by Rosemary Wright
This project is a part of UBC’s SEEDS Program (Social Ecological Economic Development Studies). The last such project, completed by a previous team of students in April 2012, resulted in the recommended healthy snack vending model that is currently in use at UBC, known as the Gage Snack Vending Model. Our project is in many ways a follow-up to theirs, and a part of our work will involve assessing how well the Gage Snack Vending Model is performing.
Our responsibilities for this project will include–but are not limited to–working with the University Nutritionist to review the products that are currently available (in terms of nutrition, stocking, and signage), conducting surveys on UBC campus to understand student snack and beverage preferences, and conducting taste tests of new potential products in collaboration with UBCFS (UBC Food Services) and our campus’ contracted vendor, VendMaster.
In order to accomplish these tasks, we set out a few ground rules for ourselves:
- Attend all group meetings
- Check emails, text messages, and Google Docs frequently
- Share ideas and thoughts from research
- Avoid procrastination!
We have decided to split the group work up into different categories and assign each category to one or two members from the group:
- Community contactor: Judy Tung
- Blog administrator: Rosemary Wright
- Main Researchers: Aveir Chang and Katherine Wang
- Meeting Coordinator: Alexandra Tan
- Survey Organizer: Carmen Sham
- Taste Test Organizer: Tyra Duggan
We have been using Google Docs to communicate and share ideas about healthy snacks and beverages that can be placed in UBC vending machines. We would like to share these opinions with our community partner, Victoria Wakefield and project manager Liska Richer. We are in the midst of scheduling an appointment to meet them in person, and should hear back from them soon. We are planning on meeting with them sometime this week (week of September 16) or at the latest, the week of September 23.
Snack Options In Gage’s Vending Machines Taken by Aveir Chang
Beverage Options in Gage Vending Machines Taken by Aveir Chang
Our goal this week is to understand the current context of the Gage Snack Vending Model, explore the vendor’s website, and come up with answers to two important questions:
1) How do we define “healthy”?
This question is extremely hard to answer because each individual has their own definition of the word “healthy”. For example, some people think energy bars are a good source of energy, while others argue that they are too high in calories and low in fibre. We, as a group, need to find a balance that satisfies our aim to replace current snacks with healthier options, and still ensures the buyer’s satisfaction with their purchase.
2) What are the criteria to allow snacks to be placed in vending machines?
Fruits are a perfectly acceptable snack; however, the warm conditions in the vending machine will cause fruit to rot within days of being added. Our group needs to come up with not only a list of health snack and beverage options, but also take into consideration the shelf life and cost of each product.
Keeping these two questions in mind, we will make a preliminary list of snack and beverages we believe are suitable for UBC vending machines.
If you have questions regarding our project, please place them down below!
Cheers,
Group 26