Letter to the Editor

Reading “Vegetarian community growing rapidly in Durham,” written by Anupriya Sivakumar on Nov. 12, it was great to see the issue of dining hall food choices brought up. More and more students are choosing to eat in ways which have minimal negative impact not only on animal welfare but also on their own health and the environment. I want to bring the latter to the attention of Duke students as an issue rarely discussed in relation to our consumption of animal products.

I’ll start off with a terrifying figure—animal agriculture is the single biggest contributor to climate change, producing 18 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, raising animals on a mass scale is hugely taxing on natural resources like land and water. Every time we choose foods that contain animal products, we exacerbate this problem. But most of us were raised eating meat, dairy and eggs. How are we to break a lifelong habit, ingrained in our culture?

Maybe we don’t have to. Maybe there’s another way.

I have a vested interest in ways to turn the food system around without disrupting people’s day-to-day eating habits. One solution is to re-jumble ingredients in our favorite foods so that the taste is same, but the environmental impact is different—minimal. A startup company in Silicon Valley has done just that. After evaluating hundreds of plant proteins to replace eggs, Hampton Creek has perfected two items—Just Mayo and Just Cookies.

Hampton Creek has partnered with over 500 schools throughout the country to serve these products in the place of conventional ones. In doing so, many schools have prevented over one million grams of carbon emissions annually. What’s more, the products are priced competitively enough such that schools rarely have to spend any more money.

To me, it’s a no brainer! Duke should be joining the likes of Harvard, Yale, Princeton and MIT. Sustainable food initiatives can and should happen here in Durham. Let’s get this conversation started!

Ajay Desai

T ‘19