Healthy (and Sustainable) Bites Bar Tomorrow

Stop by your nearest dining room at dinnertime for a taste of healthy and sustainable "Breakfast for Dinner"!  Serving Baked Apples, Egg-White Omelet, Veggie Frittata, and Granola alongside your usual dinner staples. 

As we did with the last Healthy Bites Bar, local food is being incorporated where possible.  Here's a breakdown of what to expect:

Newcomb

• Apples (Baked Apple dish)

Runk

• Granny and York apples (Baked Apple dish)
• Black raspberries (frozen at the height of the season, and thawed into fat free yogurt) and Mountain Laurel honey (Granola Crusted French Toast)
• Arugula (Egg-White Omelet)
• Arugula, broccoli, and mushroom (Veggie Frittata)

O'Hill

• Apples (Baked Apple dish)
• Tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and riddiccio (Egg-White Omelet)

In addition to the local fare, all of the eggs used in these dishes are cage-free, thus hitting the Humane standard on our Green Dining sustainability bull's eye.  Hope you enjoy!

Local Food Fair and Farm to School Week in Review

If you weren't able to make it to Dining's Healthy Bites/Farm to School celebration (at Runk, Newcomb, and O'Hill) or the Fine Arts Cafe Local Foods Fair last Wednesday evening, here are some pictures to recap the events:

The Farm at Red Hill's salsa sampling set up at the Fine Arts Cafe (photo by Dan Addison)

 

Students sampling the goods at the FAC (photo by Dan Addison)



Lots of people were stopping by the FAC!

And chatting with our vendors - here, Lisa from the Local Food Hub speaks with a student about the local apples and apple cider that they source from area farms

Lisa prepares more apple samples

Students from the Global Sustainability class organized this Food Show

Did you know that the Fine Arts Cafe now stocks single serving sized Farm at Red Hill hummus containers? 

The student organizers put together a display about the merits of local food

Twin Oaks had an info table with delicious samples, and a display featuring the basic tofu ingredients: water and (US-grown) soybeans

Twin Oaks display

The Healthy Bites/Farm to School Week crudites bar at Newcomb

Local green beans, green peppers, apples, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, and apple cider

The cider was a big hit

Don't forget, whenever you attend events like this, be sure to share your feedback with me or dining@virginia.edu.  Hearing positive comments after the fact really helps to reinforce our commitment to sustainability!

Virginia Food Security Summit Scholarship Available - Apply Now!

Have you heard about the upcoming Virginia Food Security Summit taking place here on Grounds on December 5th and 6th?  It's going to be a gathering of minds from around the Commonwealth, with everyone coming together to actively seek out opportunities to successfully institutionalize sustainable food and to create a Virginia farm to table five-year plan.

See the complete agenda here: Summit Agenda.

If this is making you feel inspired, you're in luck.  UVa Dining is offering one Summit scholarship to a student that fills out a very brief application form.  If we get a great deal of interest, we may be able to offer additional scholarships, so don't hesitate to apply if you're available on those days.

Applications are due at midnight on Sunday, November 27.  Apply today!

Fine Arts Cafe's Local Food Fair

If you're looking for an appetizer to preceed your dinner featuring local foods tomorrow, you should wander over to the Fine Arts Cafe and explore the Local Food Show taking place between 4 and 6pm.  Students from the Global Sustainability course are hosting this event in conjunction with Dining, and it should be an excellent opportunity for some quality face time with the farmers that bring us the local food items found on Grounds.  Representatives from the Farm at Red Hill, Twin Oaks, and the Local Food Hub will be on hand to talk about the food they produce and how the journey it takes to arrive on students' plates. 

For a further enticement, note that the Fine Arts Cafe perennial favorite, the quesadilla (with Farm at Red Hill salsa), will be available for $1 off during the event!  Hope to see you there.

Celebrate Virginia Farm to School Week

Virginia is celebrating Farm to School Week again this year, starting today: November 7 - 11.  U.Va. Dining is joining in the programming with a Healthy Crudites Bar this Wednesday evening (November 9, 5-8pm) at all three dining halls, featuring some scrumptious local items from the Local Food Hub.

 Here are the offerings, by dining location:

Runk

• Broccoli, Green Beans and Green Peppers from Critzer Family Farm in Afton, VA
• Cauliflower from Singing Earth Produce in Waynesboro, VA
• D'Anjou Pears from Fresh Pearspective Farm in Union, WV
• Apples from Crown Orchard in Covesville, VA, and from Dickie Bros. Orchard in Roseland, VA

Newcomb

• Broccoli, Green Beans, Green Peppers, and Celery from Critzer Family Farm in Afton, VA
• Cauliflower from Singing Earth Produce in Waynesboro, VA
• Apples from Crown Orchard in Covesville, VA, and from Dickie Bros. Orchard in Roseland, VA
• Apple Cider from Morris Orchard in Amherst, VA

O'Hill

• Broccoli, Green Beans, and Green Peppers from Critzer Family Farm in Afton, VA
• Cauliflower from Singing Earth Produce in Waynesboro, VA
• Apples from Crown Orchard in Covesville, VA, and from Dickie Bros. Orchard in Roseland, VA
• Apple Cider from Morris Orchard in Amherst, VA

The Farm to School Week menu items at O'Hill last year

Tabling for VA Farm to School Week 2010

Stop by a dining hall at dinner on Wednesday and taste the difference for yourself.  Happy Farm to School Week!

Behind the scenes at O'Hill

A first year seminar class took a field trip to O'Hill earlier this week and got an up close look at the back of the house in all its non-stop busy-ness.  This was a really fun opportunity to show students the dishroom, the pulping machine, and what actually happens to all of their food waste.  Students also learned about Campus Kitchens, our partnership with the Local Food Hub, the calculations that the staff makes to order just the right amount of food, and  how they can play a role in making Dining Services more sustainable (sign up for the reusable to-go container program; bring their own reusable mug to cafes around Grounds - and get a discount for it!; submit feedback, good or bad, via Text 'n Tell or in person to one of the managers or cooks in the dining halls).

We had a great afternoon with the group.  Thanks to Politics Professor Paul Freedman for organizing this event!

O'Hill Manager Keith Kelleher explains how the pulping equipment works

Keith shows off O'Hill's more energy efficient hood controls