Central campus space for a university Food Hub

A number of food-related groups at Edinburgh University (namely Hearty Squirrel Co-operative, Fair Trade Cafe, Transition Food Group and Abundance) have come together to create a Food Hub on campus, with the aim of making local, sustainable and ethically-sourced food accessible to the university community cheaply and conveniently.

Considering the nature of Hearty Squirrel's forced displacement from their former premises, this space should be permanent, and centrally-based (i.e. in Bristo Square or George Square).

This would be a valuable resource for the university community as a whole, extending the range of choice on campus and increase the university’s wider involvement in the Edinburgh community. The venue would offer a space on campus where several societies interested in food could work together. The Food Hub could become the meeting place for other societies, feature a small library of food-related resources and organise workshops, skill-shares and talks to increase knowledge about various food issues.

On a practical level, the Hub would be the delivery point and storage/sorting place for Hearty Squirrel's bulk orders of organic wholefoods and for Transition's local VegBags. The space could be used to store the fruits of Abundance society's autumn pickings along with their bike trailer. Other societies such as Fair Trade Cafe, People & Planet and The Dirty Weekenders amongst many others could use it to place bulk orders of foods for their events and activities.

Student volunteers involved would gain valuable experience of running a social enterprise that benefits the local community and directly tackles many of the sustainability and environmental challenges we face. Enabling the creation of a student-run Food Hub focussed on local, ethical and sustainable food is the logical next step for a pioneering university which has already become the first Fairtrade University and Transition University.