Sprouts (cafe)

Sprouts is a volunteer and student-run organic cafe and grocery store at the University of British Columbia operated by the Natural Food Co-op. It provides healthy, minimally-packaged, local and organic foods to UBC students and community members. It is open from 11 am to 5 pm througout the school year, serving vegetarian soup, fresh baked bread, muffins, cookies, and scones for lunch, all prepared by student volunteers. In an effort to minimize environmental impact, Sprouts does not offer "to-go" cups and dishes, instead, students must either bring their own or sit and enjoy their meal inside of the establishment.

Sprouts aims to make local, organic, and fair trade foods accessible to the UBC community, to promote and increase awareness of the UBC Farm, to operate a business in which ethics take precedence over profits, and to educate the public about health and sustainable food systems, and finally, to foster debate and critical thought about these topics.

Sprouts also supports several other UBC student initiatives. Community Eats, also run by the Natural Food Co-op serves free lunches every other Friday out of Sprouts with the aim of fostering community and food security among students. In an effort to decrease the amount of food that goes to waste, Community Eats lunches are cooked with food that would otherwise be thrown out by grocery stores, produce markets, and bakeries. The Natural Food Co-op also operates a buying club that allows its members to order food products from organic distributors at wholesale prices. The aim of the buying club is to provide members of the UBC community with access to a wider variety of organic foods than are available in most stores and at a price more affordable for most students.

External links

[http://www.ams.ubc.ca/clubs/nfc/ Sprouts website]