Crossroads Sustainable Sampling Event

This past Wednesday, Dining hosted a sustainable foods tasting event in front of Crossroads, as a way of publicizing the sustainable food items we stock on a daily basis in our retail locations (Crossroads in particular). Throughout the three hour sampling session several hundred students dropped by and tasted some of the goodies, and also learned about what makes those products sustainable, as well as Dining's continued efforts to expand its sustainable purchasing. The highlighted items include:

• 18 Rabbits granola bars (Haute Diggety Date [with dates, almonds and coconut], Cheeky Cherry Chocolate [with organic chocolate and cranberries], Nibble A Sultana [with apricots and hazelnuts], and Funky Figs & Cherries [with organic mission figs and honey] -- not only are the bars made with organic ingredients, but the company also gives more than 1% of the granola bars they produce to kids in urban schools. They really are meeting the triple bottom line!


• Green & Blacks chocolate (we featured their Maya Gold and Milk Chocolate with Almonds flavors) -- they're made with organically grown cocoa beans and both bars we sampled are Fair Trade certified.


• Fair Trade and Organically Certified Java City Coffee

NBC29 even caught wind of the event and came by to capture some footage of the sampling fun!

I hope that students will show their support for Dining's retail sustainability initiative by purchasing some of the recently highlighted items, as well as other organic and fair trade products on our shelves. The Farm at Red Hill, located just down the road in North Garden, VA, also provides Dining with delicious locally grown and processed salsa and hummus that we stock in retail locations like Crossroads. Come see for yourself!