Danielle Stevenson

GFI Fellow - Class of 2019

Graduate student, environmental toxicology
UC Riverside

DESCRIPTION

Food Waste to Sustainable Protein and Student Engagement at UC Riverside: Mushroom Production for the Blended Mushroom Beef Burger.

This project will engage students and food service providers at UC Riverside in growing the mushrooms needed for the blended mushroom-beef burger served on campus (as part of the Seeds of Change sustainable food initiative). The project will demonstrate the potential to divert suitable food and organic waste from UC Riverside’s waste stream for the creation of compost for campus and community agriculture and use as substrate for the production of protein-rich mushrooms- a key step towards healthy food access, food literacy, and increasing the impact and sustainability of UC Riverside’s food service model on a larger scale. The pilot will be launched with an installation event that provides students with experiential learning and the opportunity to learn about mushroom cultivation. Further, a series of 3 ‘soup n stories’ events will be held throughout the year on campus where soup made from vegetables grown on campus or recovered from local farms will be served and students will have the opportunity to learn about and discuss, as well as connect to organizations and others doing work on the following focus areas: Food and Sustainability on Campus; Healthy Food Access for me and my community; Food Systems and the Land and People (UC Riverside in global context). This pilot mushroom cultivation project has great potential to be scaled up and replicated across UC and other campuses.

View poster (PDF)