Welcome to S.P.I.C.E – Taste Imperial’s new food and drink development forum
So, what is S.P.I.C.E? It stands for Students + Professionals Interested in Culinary Excellence, and it’s our new initiative bringing Imperial staff and students passionate about food together with our chefs, operational staff and decision-makers.
We’ll meet termly for an interactive session, to discuss topics including our cuisine offering, space design, sustainable initiatives and community engagement events. As well as the chance to shape the future of food at Imperial, you’ll get to test new products and dishes, pitch ideas and find out about upcoming events and initiatives before anyone else.
As part of the forum, we see you as Taste Ambassadors; representing your fellow students and staff to build the food and drink offering our community wants and needs. If you have an interest in food – both at Imperial and outside of it – and can commit to one two-hour session per term, we’d love to hear from you!
Apply now using our sign up form here.
FAQs
What will I commit to?
By signing up, we do ask that you can commit to attending in-person one 2-hour S.P.I.C.E session per term, to be held at one of Imperial’s campuses, with dates and location shared in advance. Our first will be held over lunchtime on Wednesday 18 November at South Kensington Campus.
We’ll also share some of the topics in advance, so you can have a think about them, ask friends and colleagues, and consider what we’re doing already around each theme on campus.
We’re not looking for people who can come to one session here or there, but individuals who want to become part of our forum for the whole academic year – think of it as a working group, but with snacks!
What if I can’t attend?
We understand that you may be busy with work and study commitments that can’t be moved. Our very first session will set out our aims and goals, and we will work with our members to establish the structure and topics that work best for both of us, so it’s important that you can attend.
Over the year, we do ask that you try your best to attend all sessions (only three per year!) and notify us in advance if there is a reason you cannot.
If you are unlikely to be able to attend all sessions, we suggest you look for other ways to engage with the Taste Team, and you can always reach out to us with ideas or feedback at tasteimperial@imperial.ac.uk.
What will the sessions look like?
No two meetings will be the same! They’ll be made up of a combination of presentations and pitches from us; testing new food concepts or products and discussing opinions; interactive feedback sessions with activities; brainstorming and blue-sky thinking about new ideas or spaces.
Examples of topics we’ll look at include: feedback and idea on new recipes, sustainability schemes, proposed events, potential website and app features, our comms impact and more.
Alongside all of this, we aim to bring something fun to each session, whether that’s a cooking lesson, a blind taste-test or a Dragon’s Den-style challenge. And of course, there’ll always be something to eat or drink, so come hungry!
Can I bring a friend?
Hopefully, our forum will be a great place to connect with like-minded people in the Imperial community! If you do have a friend or colleague interested in attending with you, please refer them to the sign-up questionnaire.
Why are you asking questions about me and my food habits?
Questions about you at Imperial: We’re looking to recruit a balance of people from across all areas of Imperial – making sure we have representatives from a range of job families, academic areas and campuses, to make sure we have a forum that is representative of our community at large.
Questions about your food habits: We’re keen to ensure that we have members with different dietary habits and requirements, to allow us to hear from those with more restricted diets about our offerings catered to them. Please note that you don’t have to answer this question if you’d prefer not to, and it will not impact your application negatively if you do not.
Please note that while we aim to include as many people as possible, we have a limit on the number of members included, to allow us to ensure our sessions foster practical and meaningful engagement.
We also endeavour to create a group that's representative of our community; balancing representation of staff, students and campuses, as well as aiming to include diversity across dietary requirements and eating habits - we want to hear from people who use Taste Imperial outlets and those who don't!
Our first session will be over lunchtime on Wednesday 18 November. If you have been successful, we will reach out in advance of this date with more information on where and when, as well as a rough agenda.