A new resource at Yale aims to help the Yale community organize healthy meetings. Developed in partnership with the Yale Office of Sustainability, Being Well at Yale, Yale Hospitality, and the School of Public Health, the Healthy Meeting Guidelines provide a simple list of low cost ideas for making healthy menu choices.
“While meetings, events and celebrations are part of our culture, they often involve foods higher in unhealthy fats, added sugars and salt,” says Lisa Kimmel, director of Wellness and Health Education at Being Well at Yale. “Our Healthy Meeting Guidelines support the commitment to improving the health and well-being of the Yale community by helping to create an environment that makes the healthier choice, the easier choice.”
The guidelines include a list of 10 simple tips from increasing vegetarian offerings to choosing healthy fats over reduced fat foods.
One of the recommendations, providing build-your-own salad or vegetarian taco bars, has already found success at Yale through Being Well at Yale’s “salad socials.” During a salad social, a department provides leafy greens, dressings, plates and cutlery while participants bring the toppings. This event gives people the opportunity to take a break with colleagues, and by encouraging contributions, gives them a greater sense of ownership over the menu.
M.J. Trapp, office manager at the Yale School of Medicine Finance, organized a salad social in her department last November, and plans to host another one this month. “So many of us just eat our salads at our desks every day, and this was a way of coming together and having lunch together in a collaborative way,” says Trapp. “It was a huge hit, everybody loved it.”
The guidelines support Yale’s wider sustainability efforts to enhance health, well-being, and ecosystem vitality. Specifically, they address the sustainable catering goal in the Yale Sustainability Plan 2025 to establish a healthy meeting and workplace event guide.
Yale is committed to building a more sustainable world. By doing what we do best—integrating science, the humanities, and our community—Yale creates, tests, and adopts innovative solutions to the environmental and social challenges we all face.