Fwd: [SoFlaVegans] More university students call for organic, 'sustainable' food

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More university students call for organic, 'sustainable' food

By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY

9/27/2006

 

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2006-09-26-college-food-usat_x.htm

 

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The agonizing decision to pick Yale over Harvard

didn't come down only to academics for Philip Gant.

 

It also came down to his tummy. And his eco-savvy.

 

When he chose Yale last year, Gant wasn't swayed by its running tab

of presidential alumni: President Bush, George H.W. Bush, Bill

Clinton, Gerald Ford and William Howard Taft. He was more impressed

by Yale's leading-edge dedication to serving " sustainable " food.

 

Sustainable might sound like New Age jargon, but college students

such as Gant are embracing the idea: food grown locally with

ecologically sound and seasonally sensitive methods. The concept also

includes humane treatment for workers and animals and fair wages.

 

In addition to wanting sustainable food, students such as Gant want

it to be organic: grown without pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics

or hormones.

 

As a health-conscious member of Yale's wrestling team, Gant says,

" Part of why I was so excited about coming to Yale is the way it

eats. "

 

Nutritionally wired students — many raised on Whole Foods diets at

home — are pushing campus dining standards to be measured more by the

food's origin, not its volume. This is part of a larger student

movement on many campuses calling not just for sustainable food

practices, but also for sustainable energy use. Some colleges are

even naming directors of sustainability.

 

Colleges nationwide are buying more food from " local " farms

(typically within the state, often within 50 miles). That lets

students and school staff visit farms, get to know growers and have

confidence that the food, whether certified organic or not, is grown

in an ecologically sound manner.

 

But changes in food service, much of which is contracted out, aren't

simple for big universities.

 

" Universities have never spent money on food before. They don't know

how, " says Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse, a Berkeley, Calif.,

restaurant famous for its locally grown food. Five years ago when her

daughter was at Yale, Waters helped form the Yale Sustainable Food

Project. Now, she says, colleges are changing " because students

demand it. "

 

Few understand the business needs to change better than Jodi Smith,

marketing manager at the National Association of College & University

Food Services trade group of vendors, including food service giants

Sodexho and Aramark. If students can't find the food they want on

campus, she says, " They'll find it elsewhere. "

 

That business imperative has moved the $4.6 billion college food

service industry to respond with new ways of operating that include

relying more on nearby farmers for staples and produce, and serving

more organic foods. Yale gets its salsa from an organic farm in South

Glastonbury, Conn., instead of California. Its apples come from an

organic farm in Meriden, Conn., instead of being trucked from

Washington state.

 

Coming a long way

 

The 20% annual growth of the $15 billion organic food industry also

is touching the nation's 4,216 college and university campuses. About

half of the nation's 15 million college students have access to some

organic food on campus, according to food service industry estimates.

 

More than half of the 375 schools served by Aramark (including Yale)

serve some organic products, says Naala Royale, vice president of

marketing at Aramark Higher Education. Sodexho sells organic at 50%

of the 900 colleges it serves. " Two years ago, if you walked into any

college and asked about organic, they'd look at you cross-eyed, " says

Vicki Dunn, senior director of campus dining.

 

With good reason. A year ago, 9% of students said they strongly

preferred organic foods to other foods; it was 13% in the latest of

the annual student surveys done by Aramark. About 80% of Yale

students surveyed last year said they'd eat in the school dining

halls more often if sustainable food was served.

 

A few colleges, including Yale, are even creating organic minifarms

on or near campus. Produce from the Yale Farm shows up at special

events on campus and is sold weekly at the New Haven Farmer's Market.

" When I can connect my hand in labor to the food I'm eating, it's a

powerful experience, " says Joe Hunt, 21, a Yale senior who volunteers

at the farm. On a rainy, September morning, he's spreading compost

while munching organic cherry tomatoes. " I won't eat just anything

anymore. Working here has changed my perspective on food. "

 

Yale Farm is run by the Yale Sustainable Food Project, a university

group made up of students, faculty and staff. " The way we eat every

day is a moral act, " says Josh Viertel, co-director of the project.

" Serving organic food can be part of a greater educational experience

here. "

 

Even a cupcake.

 

Until last year, cupcakes served to Yale students were made from

premixed ingredients in giant bags. About all cooks did was add

water.

 

No more. Cupcakes, even icing, are made from scratch with organic

ingredients. Few are prouder of that than Thomas Peterlik, director

of Yale's Culinary Resource Center, the unit in charge of bringing

more sustainable food to campus. Thanks to its efforts, Yale makes

pizza from organic ingredients that can be traced to local farmers.

The cost of the ingredients is less, Peterlik says, although added

labor costs raise the total price.

 

Getting organic recipes down pat isn't easy at big institutions

because they sometimes require changes in the food prep routine. It

took a year for cooks in all the dining halls to get the organic

pizza recipe right, says Catherine Jones, executive chef for the Yale

Sustainable Food Project. " The pizzas would be too small. Or the

crust too thin. Or the toppings too thick, " she says.

 

Also, sustainable and organic foods have increased Yale's annual food

costs from about $4.6 million for the 2004-05 school year to slightly

less than $5.6 million last year, says Ernst Huff, who oversees

student financial and administrative services. So far, the university

is mostly swallowing the added costs and reducing other expenses.

Yale recently increased the budget for student food to $2.94 per meal

vs. $2.10 just two years ago, Peterlik says.

 

His goal is for Yale to serve 100% sustainable and organic food, and

progress has been rapid. Five years ago, it served almost no organic

food. Four years ago, it began to serve some organic food in one

dining hall. By last year, organic entrees were offered at least once

daily at all dining halls. This year, it's two meals daily.

 

Reaching out to farmers

 

Aramark has contributed by reinventing the way it does business at

Yale and reaching out to area farmers. Until the project began,

Aramark had about 15 to 20 food suppliers for all the food there.

Now, it has up to four times as many, says Don McQuarrie, executive

director of dining services. " Ten years ago, it was OK to get any

tomato, " he says. " Now, we want to be able to tell the students who

grew it and where. "

 

Nearly 40% of food served on campus is organic, Huff says.

 

How can students tell? When food being served in any of Yale's 12

dining halls is organic or locally grown, the Yale Sustainable Food

Project's wheelbarrow logo appears on a placard. " That's the food

that typically goes first, " says Melina Shannon-DiPietro, project

co-director.

 

One student was so enthused that she sent Shannon-DiPietro a poem

celebrating organic granola: Ode to Yale Granola.

 

" Let me boast brazenly of the bountiful benefits to bodily health of

this beautiful breakfast, " wrote senior Lucas Dreier two years ago.

" Give me a bowl, and my soul will be satisfied. "

 

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