Sustainability

Our pledge of more veg with Peas Please

The University of Edinburgh is increasing the amount of vegetables it serves to encourage students and staff to eat an extra portion per day.

Peas Please logo: Making a pledge for more veg

It's one of three positive commitments the University made in joining the Peas Please initiative in January 2020. 

What is Peas Please?

A trail-blazing initiative focused specifically on veg, Peas Please aims to bring together farmers, retailers, fast food and restaurant chains, caterers, processors and government departments with a common goal of making it easier for everyone to eat veg.

Committed to collaborative working, Peas Pease is led by project partners the Food Foundation, Nourish Scotland, Food Sense Wales, Food NI, and Belfast Food Network who have secured engagement and support from organisations in cities, business and governments across the UK to bring about change to the whole food system to improve people’s health and wellbeing.

Our three commitments

Accommodation, Catering and Events (ACE) has made the following commitments:

Our pledge to Pease Please shows our ongoing commitment to the stretching but achievable targets we set within an implementation plan underpinning the University's Good Food Policy. Whilst a number of different initiatives exist to increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables, Peas Please seemed an ideal fit: over 50% of items served throughout all catering areas are already vegetarian or vegan, so we're well-equipped to encourage our students and staff to choose more veg.

Ian MacaulayDirector of Catering

Why should we all eat more veg?

Government dietary guidance suggests we should be eating seven portions of fruit and veg a day, yet a recent report by the Food Foundation revealed that 80% of adults and 95.5% of children 11-16 years are not eating enough.

To decrease the risk of diet related diseases, we need to be eating, on average, one more portion of veg per day. It’s not just our health that will benefit but the environment and farmers can potentially benefit from more veg too. Research by the London School of Health and Tropical Medicine showed that if we all eat an extra portion of veg and a little less meat we would reduce the UK’s diet-related greenhouse gas emissions by 17%.

Simon Kenton-LakePolicy & Project Officer, Nourish Scotland

Find out more about Good Food

Five ways the University is making food more sustainable

Read our Good Food policy

General enquiries

  • Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Contact details

Address

Street

Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability
The Boilerhouse
High School Yards

City
Edinburgh
Post Code
EH1 1LT