Forward Food is the Humane Society International’s plant-based programme, working with major food service and universities to put more plants on plates.
With our support, institutions are able to set ambitious yet attainable sustainability goals and measure the impact of their menus with our greenhouse gas assessments. Our culinary training equips them with the tools needed to enhance the availability, quality and promotion of their plant-based meals, enabling a shift away from meals centred on meat and dairy, reducing their environmental impact and keeping their customers happy.
The past year has been extremely challenging for all, and public sector catering has been no exception. Within the context of HSI’s Forward Food program, we lost the ability to work hands-on with our partners in catering and we were keen to adapt our programme accordingly.
Last summer we had the pleasure of evolving our collaboration with The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) and created a 4-part webinar series. Each webinar focused on one of our toolkits (taste, texture, pulses and grains) and consisted of a cook-a-long with our fabulous chef, Jenny Chandler, and a conversation about the motivating factors of plant-based food with an expert guest. The series went down well with our participants and showed us that Forward Food could work just as well virtually. And so we decided to take Forward Food online.
Our virtual culinary trainings are now live with chefs able to learn about the wonderful world of plant-based cuisine. We offer a suite of videos, each exploring different aspects of plant-based cooking, followed by a live cooking session and presentation on how more plant-based food is kinder to the environment, human health and animals, and also great for business!
We believe that now more than ever, we should all be looking to build back better. The climate emergency still looms on the horizon and the next decade will be crucial in tackling its challenges. We now have a unique opportunity to restart in a more sustainable way and many institutions and major food services share this goal and are now committing to tackling emissions from food. We are keen to support these institutions in maximising their commitments so as to have the greatest impact in the long-term.
To learn more about the programme, check out our business case, showing you all the ways in which we can help you on your plant-based journey, or send us a message at [email protected].