2.3.3 Sustainable food choices on campus

In 2025, Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) provided sustainable food choices on campus, including vegetarian food. Students, staff and visitors can choose meat-free and plant-based dishes in the university canteens, and the university encourages food outlets to use fresh vegetables, reduce waste and avoid single-use plastics. SWU also grows chemical-free vegetables and organic rice through its own farm, showing how food can come from trusted sources with minimised exposure to manufactured herbicides or artificial fertilisers and no or low level of pesticides.

Vegetarian and plant-based choices in campus canteens

Vegetarian food is available in the university's canteens at the Prasarnmit Campus. Under the 30-Baht Meal Programme, which started on 1 October 2025 in every canteen at Prasarnmit and Ongkharak, shops in several canteens offer meat-free dishes. At the Green Nutrition Canteen, these include vegetarian stir-fried noodles with soy sauce, rice with stir-fried mixed vegetables and rice with stir-fried pumpkin and egg, while shops in Canteen 1 next to the Demonstration School offer stir-fried mixed vegetables served with riceberry rice, a whole-grain Thai rice, and rice topped with a vegetable omelette for only THB 25. The SWU Healthy Canteen menu database, which lists more than 600 dishes from 29 shops in four canteens, also shows meat-free choices such as vegetarian rad na, stir-fried mixed vegetables, rice with stir-fried mixed vegetables and fried rice with shiitake mushrooms. These dishes give students and staff an affordable plant-based option every day and help to lower the environmental footprint of campus meals.

Figure 1: 30-baht menus at the Green Nutrition Canteen, including vegetarian stir-fried noodles with soy sauce and rice with stir-fried mixed vegetables

Figure 2: Meat-free dishes under the 30-Baht Meal Programme: rice with stir-fried pumpkin and egg at Krua Mit Amphan, Green Nutrition Canteen (left); stir-fried mixed vegetables with riceberry rice at Pornthip Curry Rice, Canteen 1 (centre); and rice with vegetable omelette for THB 25 at Inter Food, Canteen 1 (right)

Source: https://www.facebook.com/prswu/posts/pfbid02puWkS7NfGKzLJN4qyyaS5xtdtDE98uauwcMi4PWVFyPMZmZKTjNEr8zzTLuEU4gXl

Figure 3: Meat-free vegetable dishes listed in the SWU Healthy Canteen menu database for the Green Nutrition Canteen (left) and the Demonstration School Canteen (right)

Source: https://swucanteen.netlify.app/

Food from trusted sources: chemical-free produce from the university farm

SWU produces food in an environmentally sustainable way through the CCAS FARM Organic Agriculture Learning Center of Bodhivijjalaya College. The farm grows organic salad vegetables in greenhouses and organic rice without manufactured herbicides, artificial fertilisers or chemical pesticides. The produce is shared with university personnel for their own meals, and the farm also trains staff and local community members in organic farming. In fiscal year 2025, 31 participants, including faculty, staff and local community members, joined hands-on sessions such as "Organic Agriculture Made Easy" and organic input management. In this way, the university supports environmentally sustainable management of the land, protects the diversity of plants and soil life, and contributes to thriving local economies and sustainable livelihoods.

Figure 4: Staff and community members at the CCAS FARM Organic Agriculture Learning Center, Bodhivijjalaya College

Source: Bodhivijjalaya College, Srinakharinwirot University

Avoiding waste of natural resources in canteens

Sustainable food choices also mean avoidance of damaging or wasting natural resources. SWU extends its policy on reducing single-use plastics to the food and beverage vendors that operate on campus. Canteens 1 and 2 are equipped with free drinking water refill stations, including contactless stations with a UV system, so that diners can refill their own bottles instead of buying bottled water. Together with vegetarian dishes and chemical-free produce, these measures make sustainable food choices part of everyday life on campus.

Figure 5: Free drinking water refill stations in Canteens 1 and 2, Prasarnmit Campus

Source: Physical Development Division, Srinakharinwirot University