Celebrate World Food Day with good food choices at UNSW

13 Oct 2025
Campus & Culture
Edition 19 2025
SDG showcase

Let the UNSW Good Food Charter inspire healthier, more sustainable catering across campus. 

On Thursday 16 October World Food Day marks 80 years of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. This year’s theme, Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future, invites you to rethink how your food choices impact your health and the planet.

With Term 3 in full swing and end-of-year events on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to explore how UNSW’s Good Food Charter can guide healthier, more sustainable catering across campus. The Good Food Charter was developed in collaboration with UNSW Health Promotions, UNSW Wellbeing, UNSW Estate Management and The George Institute for Global Health.   

Here are five simple ways to bring ‘good food’ principles to your next team lunch or celebration:

  • Healthy: prioritise ‘everyday’ foods and offer smaller portions of discretionary items. Did you know, while meat tops the list for greenhouse gas emissions, discretionary foods are the second biggest contributor[1]?
  • Ethical and sustainable: choose to reuse by bringing reusable containers, cups and cutlery to help avoid plastic and single-use packaging. For unavoidable food waste, dispose of it in the food organics bins to turn scraps into energy and soil nutrient.
  • Variety: mix up cuisines and cater to diverse dietary needs, with a preference for vegetarian and vegan options.
  • Affordable: support local initiatives like Thoughtful Foods who provide weekly seasonal produce boxes and Arc Food Hub who help tackle student food insecurity.
  • Informative: join UNSW Urban Growers working bees and explore more links between food, sustainability and innovation at the UNSW SDG Showcase.

Spotlight on nutrition and dietetics at UNSW

UNSW’s Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Innovation program is shaping future-ready dietitians with a strong focus on sustainability and food systems. Students engage with the UNSW food environment, assess campus food outlets, and explore emerging food technologies – from 3D printing to cell-based meats.

The program is deeply connected to the UNSW ecosystem, engaging with initiatives like the Bush Food Trail, Urban Growers, Randwick Organic Community Garden, Thoughtful Foods and the Arc Food Hub. These experiences help students understand the broader food environment and its impact on health and sustainability.

As part of their coursework, student dietitians assess campus food outlets using the Healthy Food and Drink in NSW Health Facilities Framework, acting as nutrition consultants. They also reflect on the UNSW Good Food Charter, learning how environmental factors like pricing and availability shape dietary choices.

Dietitians are essential to delivering the future of food. Join us at the UNSW SDG Showcase on Tuesday 28 October to see how UNSW is training the next generation!

Get involved

For more tips and information about good food choices at UNSW:

 

[1] https://doi.org/10.3390/nu8110690

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