Student-led Sustainable School Food Summit at Chinese International School

Students from the Chinese International School (CIS) are hosting a one-day summit on sustainable school food with support from The Alliance for Sustainable Schools (TASS) and Grassroots Initiatives (GI).

The purpose of the summit is to elevate the conversation about sustainability of school food and to bust some common myths that are obstacles to sustainable school food becoming more widespread and popular such as – “sustainable food is too expensive”, “most students don’t like/won’t eat sustainable food”, and “sustainable food isn’t possible at scale in Hong Kong.”

As part of the summit, a select number of local celebrity chefs have been invited to create a sustainable dish suitable for inclusion in a school lunch menu and to serve the dish to summit attendees on the day of the conference. The entries will be evaluated by students, and an independent panel of experts and stakeholders based on sustainability factors and other pre-determined criteria. School lunch providers (for example Sodexo, Maxims, Chartwells and others) will commit in advance to serving the chef’s entries on the menus at the schools they work for throughout the subsequent academic year.

*This is an in-person event for students in Hong Kong. Teachers are welcome to join as chaperones for their students.

The Summit Organisers

DITO (Drop in The Ocean) is a student-led environmental group at CIS that strives to establish sustainability as a CIS school value through systemic change, community dialogue and education. DITO aspires to be environmental leaders and agents of change and to support the school’s intention to “serve as environmental advocates through practice and curriculum.”

The Alliance for Sustainable Schools (TASS) is a not-for-profit network of schools working together to help accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future. Our members share a commitment to the principles of the Sustainable Schools Charter. As a community of practice, The Alliance connects sustainability practitioners in schools around the world, sharing their learning and amplifying their impact. As an agent of change, we harness our collective influence and partner with innovators to catalyse systems change in five areas – school uniforms, school food, school buses, school buildings, and education for sustainability.

Grassroots Initiatives (GI) is a social enterprise that assists food service operations to transition beyond best practices that meets human and planetary health goals. GI consultancy excels in 3 main areas: (i) menu development, (ii) nutritional and carbon footprint assessments, and (iii) designing responsible food business operations. GI applies a holistic approach to assist our clients on the journey through observation, training, strategizing, measuring, and evaluating impact.