Rethinking Campus Food

This project captures the characteristics of the food service provided by the North Campus of Humber College and how it aligns with students’ needs, especially those who live in Residence and whose food source mostly comes from the campus. To understand this particular food service system, we talked to students with different backgrounds and living situations, most of them are in their first year of college, living in the campus residence. We also surveyed over 75 students, gathered their input and feedback on the food service, interviewed 2 problem space experts and kept an ongoing open conversation with the stakeholders inside the system. The results collected clearly showed a few clustered themes on what students are looking for and what the institution’s service is lacking. Some gaps include the lack of healthy, diverse and wholesome food options as opposed to processed fast food. Results also revealed the misalignment between hours of service and when students actually need food. There is also a very thin connection between food and students’ mind-body health. This study emphasizes how important and urgent it is to make changes to the food service on-campus to ensure the institution is moving forward and the students are getting the support they need to be successful in their education.