Congratulations to Catering Manager Ivan Higney and the Darwin Catering team, who were Highly Commended in the Campus Food and Drink category in last night’s Green Gown Awards.
Now marking their 20th anniversary year, the Awards were launched in 2004 to recognise sustainability initiatives across the higher education sector. This year’s awards saw 133 projects from 83 institutions shortlisted, with 22 winners and 23 highly commended awards announced at a ceremony at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh.
Judges were impressed by Darwin’s rigorous and explicit focus on plant-based catering, as well as the boldness and ambition of the 100% plant-based May Ball and Green Week. They also commented on the College’s “amazing integration with both student and academic work, with the College open to trialling and being a site for cutting edge research in sustainable diets.”
The Master, Dr Mike Rands, said:
“I am thrilled that Darwin’s commitment to offering varied and delicious food, while reducing the environmental impact of feeding our community, has been recognised by this award. We are proud of the imagination with which our staff approach the challenge of ensuring Darwin’s catering is as sustainable as possible.”
Darwin was also a Finalist in two categories – Student Sustainability Champion (Meg Groom), and Staff Sustainability Champions (Ivan Higney and Matt Turpie).
For Zeynep Ozturk, a Darwin PhD student in Genetics, February’s catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria was not the kind of news she could scroll past.
“I am from the affected region in Turkey,” she explains. “My brother lives in one of the epicentres. I am lucky that they are alive and safe, but many lives have been lost and the effect was quite dramatic.”
In collaboration with a group of friends from across the University, including a Syrian student, Faraj, with experience in commercial catering, Zeynep took over the Darwin kitchens and dining hall on Saturday to host a dinner in support of the emergency relief fund.
“We were so touched by the help of the Darwin kitchens. All the staff were so friendly and helpful. Mindi, one of the kitchen porters, helped us with all the dishes and stayed with us until almost 11pm. We also had help with ingredients from the local Cambridge shops: Arjuna Brothers, Al-Amin, Spice Gate and Cambridge market.”
The students served dinner to 70 attendees and raised £2,600 in donations to support those affected by the earthquake in both Turkey and Syria.