Eat After Eight

In January, a new recurring event was started at Victoria College called “Eat After Eight,” where leftover food from the Burwash Dining Hall is repackaged and given to students after the dining hall is closed. The service runs Tuesday and Thursday nights in the Wendy Cecil Atrium and welcomes all University of Toronto students to enjoy a meal at 8 pm. This new venture at the college has been spearheaded by Vic student and Co-President of VicXposure, Zhehui Cici Xie. 

In a written statement to The Strand, Xie shared that earlier work relating to the food and the dining hall centred on the issue of leftover meal plan points with the hopes of refunding, carrying over, or donating those unclaimed meals. However, those initiatives reached logistical roadblocks, which shifted Xie towards the goal of reducing the food waste from the dining hall’s unclaimed meals. In developing the action plan, Xie was partially inspired by friends who work with the MealCare organisation, which diverts food surplus to individuals facing food injustice in local communities, including their University of Toronto branch. 

While recounting the process of getting this pilot project approved by administrators, Xie later explained that following discussions with the Office of the Dean of Students, “The key step was getting in contact with Burwash and the manager Ajay [Sharma, Associate Director, Hospitality Services at Victoria University], which allowed me to explain to him what the pilot program would look like and why it would be a win-win solution to the leftover food at Burwash.” Once relevant administrators were on board, the next issue became funding. Cam Miranda-Radbord, the current Vice President External of the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC), who has worked with Xie on the planning of this project and meetings with administrators, budgeted a total of $660 from VUSAC for this initiative in the 2024 Winter term. The breakdown of the final arrangement with Food Services is that VUSAC covers 50 cents per meal for a maximum of 100 meals per week. 

The “Eat After Eight” program has been a great success so far with over 140 attendees in just the first two days of launch, leading to zero food waste at Burwash as anything not served goes towards the late-night meals. Miranda-Radbord explained the importance of this project in a written interview with The Strand, saying, “Students have two big problems with the dining hall—it wastes too much food, and it closes too early. This project is so important to me because it solves both.” In analysing the impact on students, Miranda-Radbord noted that “the response has been enormously positive […] Demand has been so strong that we have had to turn some students away.” Miranda-Radbord continued the celebration by noting that Vic has become a trailblazer on campus with this new initiative, as the first federated college with this type of food program and that “the reception has been so positive that we’re hearing interest from [Trinity College] in starting their own.”

Xie wanted to make sure that the core message of this campaign is taken to heart by students, that “the food waste problem and the student food insecurity problems should not be viewed in isolation from each other. Burwash is easily understood as an independent entity—almost like an ‘individual’—and the solutions to its day-to-day operations may not consider its position in the community ecosystem. Instead of viewing issues in isolation from each other, the “Eat After Eight” program hopefully can serve as a message to everyone, inspiring thinking holistically and systematically, and serve its purpose in constructing a meaningful “nearby” to everyone.”  Xie also wants to make sure that community members know the “Eat After Eight” program is not meant to exist solely as a “bandaid solution” to issues of food insecurity and waste on campus, but rather that “this campaign is focusing more on its impact as a public education and message-sending initiative. Although we are super happy that students can get a meal, we are more thrilled that the 70-plus students who showed up on day two of ‘Eat After Eight’ are going to begin considering these issues and give us a chance to convey a message. We have plans of demonstrating how meal programs like this can have potential in community-building and effecting change.”

The “Eat After Eight” pilot program will continue to run every Tuesday and Thursday night for the remainder of the term. A current challenge faced by attendees has been that demand for the meals has exceeded available food, so organisers recommend interested students line up early. It is also recommended that students contact [email protected] to share any feedback or ideas regarding the program. The “Eat After Eight” team is hopeful for the continued future of their work. They have begun working with Victoria University Food Services to expand the pilot to rescue more food and offer the opportunity more frequently and to more students.