The Edible Campus 2014 Survey

Introduction

Food and agriculture are products of particular places and spaces, with agriculture a function of the interdependent relationships between plants and animals, human activity, the soil, and other natural systems. As such, food is inherently a spatial product. The agro-food system, which encompasses food chains and food networks of varying lengths and sizes, includes activities and actors from production to consumption, as well as the consideration of waste (Fine 1998, as cited in Pimbert et al. 2001). People’s interaction with their food system is therefore a result of socio-economic, cultural and geographical factors which combine to produce people’s diet (i.e. what they consume) and their attitudes towards food.

The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus can be regarded as a foodscape (Mikkelsen 2011) for its members. It is a place within which the spatial and social dimensions of food and agriculture combine to form a melting pot of culinary choices – fruit trees and fruit stalls, ‘Creole’ food and roti, doubles and kebabs, local and foreign franchises, barbecue, and vegetarian options, ice cream and snow cone – a true reflection of what it means to live in the multi-cultural geography of the Caribbean. With such a plethora of culinary opportunity, the question must be asked – how do persons at the UWI-STA interact with their foodscape? It is this overarching question which drives the Edible Campus project.

Research Questions

• Are members of the Campus Community aware of the fruit trees which make up their geographical space?

• What do students and members of staff at the UWI-STA consume when they are on campus?

• What factors influence people's on-campus consumption patterns?

• Is the UWI-STA a health conscious community?

• What Foods would persons at the UWI-STA like to see on campus?

Sample Description & Findings

A total of 300 persons were administered questionnaires during the period February to March 2014. The questionnaires were designed in order to determine individuals’ current consumption patterns, their awareness of campus fruit trees and their attitudes towards food. Figure 01 was designed to illustrate the sample.

Of the 300 people who were given a questionnaire, there were 226 complete responses, equivalent to a 75% response rate. More than half of the sample lived at home (51.4%) while the remaining participants lived in halls of residence (30.7%) and in off-campus housing (17.9%). The top three Faculties represented in the sample were Social Science, Science and Technology, and Engineering.

*MED- Faculty of Medical Sciences, LAW- Faculty of Law, FSS- Faculty of Social Sciences, ENG-Faculty of Engineering, FHE- Faculty of Humanities & Education, FST- Faculty of Science & Technology, FFA-Faculty of Food & Agriculture

Fruit Awareness

1. Are Members of the Campus Community Aware of the Fruit Trees which make up their Geographical Space?

Persons are generally aware of the popular fruit trees on campus. In total, respondents named twenty-four of the more common fruit trees of the total 55 edible plants that are mapped. Of the respondents, 65.9% stated that they have noticed the fruit trees on campus, and 82.7% indicated that they would pick from the campus fruit trees if permitted to do so. The most popular fruit to be seen (41%) and eaten (32.5%) is the Julie mango (Fig 01). It should be noted however, that most of the fruits are “seen but not eaten”. In part, this is because people did not feel they had permission to eat from the trees.

2. What Are The Reasons for Picking Fruits On Campus?

People who pick fruits on campus say they do this because fruits are healthy, cheap, and they prefer fruit to eating other things (Fig 02).

3. What Are The Reasons for Not Picking Fruits On Campus?

Among those who do not pick the fruit, many stated safety concerns (25%) and that they simply did not want to eat from campus trees (preference 25%). Inconvenience was also a popular reason (21.4%) for persons not picking fruits from the campus fruit trees (Table 5.2). Given that many people felt that picking fruit was not safe and it was inconvenient, would people eat the fruit if it was pre-harvested?

4. Would the Campus Community Eat Pre-harvested Fruits?

Respondents generally feel more comfortable eating the fruit if it is pre-harvested (87.6%) while nearly 12.4% still would refuse. The main reasons for eating pre-harvested fruit (Fig 04) are that it is convenient, in that they would not have to pick the fruit themselves (28.9%), nationalism and to support the UWI (23.7%) and health (15.8%). 77.3% of those who refused to eat the pre-harvested fruit said it was due to the foreseen purchase prices, which would likely be higher than the market (Fig 05).

Food Consumption

1. How many meals do persons at The UWI-STA have on campus?

The majority of respondents (68.5%) eat one or two meals on campus (Fig 1). A minority (15%) have three meals on campus, while 16.4% indicate that they snack throughout the day. This finding is particularly important given that the majority of respondents were students. It therefore points to two important questions – what are the meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) that students are having on campus? And, what constitutes these meals? With increasing enrollment in the Evening University, which for 2013/2014 stood at 1,539 students – the eating behavior of different segments of the student and staff populations requires attention. Classes in the Evening University run from 5:00pm to 10:00pm; and the fact that fast food outlets selling fried foods and sandwiches are the only food locations open during those hours points to the health implications of on campus food consumption.

2. How often do members of the Campus community buy food on campus?

Nearly 40% of respondents purchase food “a few times per week” on the campus, while 16.3% indicated that they purchase food on campus “a few times a day.” 17.2% of persons purchase food “once a day” while only 2.8% do not purchase food from campus. It appears that a large proportion of the respondents however, still leave campus to purchase food. When asked if they ever go off campus to purchase food or beverages, 65.7% of the respondents indicated “yes”, as opposed to 34.3% who stated “no.”

3. How much do persons at the UWI-STA spend to purchase food on campus?

When asked to indicate the average amount of money they spend to purchase food on campus on a weekly basis:

•the majority (53%) stated that they spend between $20.00 and $100.00 per week

•27.4% spend between $100.00 and $200.00 on a weekly basis

•the minority (2.8%) spend $400.00 or more to purchase food on campus. Based on these figures, it can be projected that on average a student may spend $2,600.00 over the 13 week semester on the purchase of on-campus food. This becomes more important when the income level of these persons is taken into consideration. The majority of respondents (64.2%) indicated that they do not have an income, while 14.8% stated that their income was less than $3,000.00 per month. Similarly, the majority of respondents (24.6%) indicated that they have “no monthly allowance,” followed by 21.6% who stated that their allowance was between $300.00 and $500.00. A minority (10.5%) indicated that their allowance was “less than $300.00”. Therefore, the financial cost of purchasing food on campus may be an area of concern for students, particularly as the macro forces of inflation and food import dependence result in gradually higher food prices.

4. Are place-of-residence and food consumption associated?

Based on Table 1, it can be seen that those who live off campus are more likely to purchase food on campus compared with other residential groups. By contrast, homemade food was consumed on campus by approximately 1/3 of all residential groups.

5. What are the obstacles to healthy eating at the UWI St. Augustine Campus ?

Food which is consumed on campus can come from several sources: on campus food outlets and vending machines, off campus food stalls/restaurants or homemade food, which is brought to the campus. With regards to the latter, the following was found:

•33.6% of the respondents indicated that they bring homemade food to campus “a few times a week”

•15.4% stated that they bring food “daily”

•13.1% bring food once a week

•16.4% bring food either once or a few times a month

• 21.6% of the respondents do not bring home from home

Based on Table 3, it can be seen that most persons who do not bring homemade food consume one meal on campus. Those who bring food frequently, such as a few times a week, also consume one to three meals on campus.

6. Local or foreign – What are the Campus community’s food preferences?

The UWI has grown in physical space and human resources since its days as the ICTA. At the UWI-STA, gradual steps are being taken to expand infrastructural capacity to accommodate the growth in the student population, and the provision of a wide variety of food outlets for students and staff is a necessary part of this process.

There is at present one ‘food court’ located at the Southern end of the campus, which has three fast food outlets and a fruit stall that sells fruits such as bananas, pears, apples and plum as well as ice-cream and pies.

In addition, franchises and privately-owned outlets provide members of the campus community with meals ranging from Creole dishes, vegetarian meals, Arabian food items, Japanese food, ‘Indian’ food, and doubles; the most popular of these options are foreign fast food outlets (Table 4).

7. What are the reasons for our Campus Community’s consumption patterns?

Food is not simply about what a people choose to consume and not consume, but is a reflection of a society’s underlying values about “class, sex/gender, race, religion, and even nationality and humanity” (Bonnekessen 2010). To understand what people eat and their preferences, a look at the reasons for their eating is useful (Fig 5.08). The leading reason among respondents were as follows:

•Taste (41.2%)

•Cost (20.6%)

•Health (11.5% ) The least popular reasons for food choice were:

•Friends/ peer pressure (0.3%)

•Business hours, of the food outlets (0.3%)

Health Awareness

1. Is the UWI Campus community health conscious?

Tertiary education has become a pillar of development and many countries within the Caribbean have seen increased enrolment at its tertiary level institutions. In Trinidad and Tobago, “participation in tertiary education has increased to 65.23 per cent as at December 31, 2013” (Karim 2014). With such a sizeable portion of its population engaged in some form of tertiary level education, the potential effects on persons’ health come into focus. The majority of respondents (67.5%) consider themselves to be “health conscious” while 32.5% admit that they are not.

This may provide an explanation for the finding that many respondents buy food off campus – 59.3% claimed that they do not eat healthy food on campus; 40.7% eat what they deem to be healthy food on campus.

2. What are people’s perception of healthy food options on campus?

The leading reason for respondents not eating healthy food on campus may be the perception that the campus has “few healthy options,” which was selected by 60.4% of the respondents as their reason for not eating healthy on campus. Taste was the second most popular reason, with 18.8% selecting this option.

3. What are the reasons for members of the campus community not eating healthy?

The leading reason for respondents not eating healthy food on campus may be the perception that the campus has “few healthy options,” which was selected by 60.4% of the respondents as their reason for not eating healthy on campus. Taste was the second most popular reason, with 18.8% selecting this option.

4. What healthy food options would members of the campus community like to see on campus?

5. What are the obstacles to healthy eating at the St. Augustine Campus of the UWI?

The price of healthy foods was selected by 35% of the respondents as their major obstacle to obtaining healthy food on campus (Fig 5.11). This was followed by “culture”, which was selected by 11.7% of the respondents, and included factors such as an overall preference for fast food and students not liking healthy food. “Outlet-related” factors, such as the length of lines, space and the overall look of the outlets were selected by 11.1% of the respondents as obstacles to obtaining healthy food on campus. When asked to suggest other healthy options which they would like to see on campus, many respondents (21.4%) indicated that they would like a “salad bar.”