Ethan Zhao
I'm a huge advocate for getting boots on the ground and iterating on action over ideas. Almost anything can be discussed in a meeting room, but no change can happen without action. After founding the Mindful Club at my high school and watching it grow from a solo project to over 40 people strong, the Sprout Fellowship is enabling me to pursue personal health in another vertical I'm super passionate about: food!
Flavor Crate
Flavor Crate is an initiative to raise food literacy in university students. Too often, healthy eating feels out of reach because shopping, cooking, and prepping takes too long. Flavor Crate uses easy-to-find, affordable ingredients paired with simple meal cards to demonstrate how quick, affordable, and beneficial cooking can be. By highlighting just how accessible healthy meals already are, Flavor Crate inspires students to take ownership of their food choices and embrace cooking as a positive habit.
About this Project
Communities Served
My project will involve and/or impact the following communities:
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
When it comes to community impact projects, the UN has created 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These are the Sustainable Development Goals associated with my project.
How the project works
Flavor Crate provides campus meal kits with cheap, common ingredients and step-by-step meal cards. In partnership with the university’s food support club, students can pick up a kit, cook it in under 20 minutes with minimal equipment, and learn the practicality of healthy, affordable cooking.
Project Impact
Over the next eight months, Flavor Crate will create more than 300 meal kits for students. Each kit reaches a student directly, building food literacy while reducing reliance on unhealthy or wasteful eating. The impact is both immediate and lasting as students gain confidence and skills for lifelong cooking.
Project Mission
Our mission is to support students in need by showing that healthy meals are accessible, affordable, and achievable. By providing simple kits and cooking guidance, we aim to build food literacy, stretch student budgets, and foster long-term wellbeing. Flavor Crate empowers students to see cooking not as a burden, but as a tool for thriving.
Project Team
Built of passionate Western University students who love to cook or love to eat.
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