UVA Dine

The NWG is fortunate to be able to collaborate with UVA Dine to advance a collective mission of sustainable eating. UVA Dine supports the NWG's mission and has launched a variety of initiatives advocating eating styles that reduce a nitrogen footprint, in conjunction with supporting local and sustainable eating.

Providing Data

UVA Dine is essential to the NWG's calculation of the University's nitrogen footprint. UVA Dine provides the data on UVA's food purchases that enables the Working Group to calculate the nitrogen footprint. They provide specific numbers from each vendor that UVA purchases from, and from these numbers the NWG Footprint Team calculates a nitrogen footprint using SIMAP.  

Promotion of Sustainable Foods

The NWG collaborates with UVA Dine to promote plant-forward eating sourced from sustainable vendors. The UVA Dine began an initiative called the Taste Cart, which features sustainable bites made with locally-sourced food. Every Thursday the Taste Cart serves these meals to students in Fresh Food Company Dining Hall.

This past year, UVA Dine has commenced a collaboration with the Nitrogen Working Group to integrate emphasis on nitrogen footprint reduction as a component of sustainable eating. Once a month, the NWG tables with UVA Dine to explain to students how sustainable eating relates to nitrogen. Each month, we focus on a particular ingredient used in the weekly Taste Cart meal. Check out the posters we've made for each ingredient!