Eat local food in university cafeterias

05.11.2024

TO Brook Kupal

Chefs at Fox Dining Commons on East Campus spooned creamy mashed potatoes onto plates and then topped them with fried Statler chicken. The dish was accompanied by maple-glazed roasted pumpkin, complemented by a savory mushroom sauce.

The previous day, Aramark sustainability coordinator Annie Conway had made the 10-minute drive from the University of Massachusetts Lowell to Fat Moon Farm in North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to pick 10 pounds of mushrooms for the main course. The pumpkin included in the dish was harvested from Plainville Farm in Hadley, Massachusetts.

“My goal is to bring more local food into the dining halls,” says Conway, who began working at UMass Lowell dining partner Aramark in August. Her position, new to campus, was made possible after UMass Lowell and its partners (Aramark, Mill City Grows, Lowell Public Schools and the Asian American Center for Excellence and Engagement) won New England Food Vision Award valued at $199,500 from the Henry P. Kendall Foundation. The award funds the Lowell Eats Local project, which aims to increase local food purchasing at UMass Lowell and transform Greater Lowell’s food aggregation and distribution systems by coordinating citywide food purchasing.

“Annie has really hit the ground running since joining UMass Lowell,” says Nicole Kelly, assistant director of the UML Office of Sustainability. “She connected hyperlocal growers with Aramark to expose our students to what is being grown on campus and in surrounding communities.”

Delicious food with local flavor

Lowell-grown cilantro tacos. Chimichurri made with parsley collected from the University Crossing rooftop garden. Pizza sauce made with cherry tomatoes harvested in Londonderry, New Hampshire. These are just a few of the local dishes that students recently enjoyed in the dining halls.

Aramark County Chef Jeffrey Stone, who oversees University canteen and university food service at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, says the Food Vision Prize has helped his team increase its use of locally produced food. In October alone, the team saw nearly 3,500 pounds of local produce flow into university kitchens.

“You could say it all happened from across the river or a mile down the road,” Stone says. “We get the best local product.”

More than 40% of this produce came from Horne Family Farms, which was founded by economics graduate Chris Horne ’14 in 2018.

“I made a great mix of everything from lettuce and tomatoes to bok choy and kohlrabi,” says Horn, who partnered with University Dining after hearing about the opportunity from Dai Kim, co-executive director of the Lowell-based nonprofit Mill City Grows , which also supplied products to the campus.

Horn, who began supplying the University of Massachusetts Lowell in June, grows his crops in Londonderry, New Hampshire, at Mill City Grows, a large farm in Lowell, and at the Rist Urban Agricultural Greenhouse and Farm on East Campus.

“Sometimes I would harvest the crops in the greenhouse and take them straight to Fox Hall,” he says. “This is just the beginning of what’s possible.”

Conway hired the Boston Food Hub, a nonprofit food distribution organization that linked UMass Lowell to nearly two dozen farms in Massachusetts.

“It’s been really great because it’s an easy, direct way to import local produce and support local farmers at the same time,” she says.

When local products are used in dining halls or catered events on campus, appropriate signage will be posted to patrons.

“I’ve been trying to include more vegetables and fruits in my diet lately, so it’s nice to know they’re coming here locally,” said Rutsmarie Ogando, a first-year nursing student, as she browsed the food options at the South Campus Dining Commons in the McGowran Center. .

Sustainability Forward

UMass Lowell already has the highest ranking in Massachusetts for sustainability, according to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. And this local food initiative takes things to the next level.

By sourcing products locally, UMass Lowell reduces its carbon footprint because products don’t have to travel as far to get to campus, Conway said. The university also stimulates the region’s economy by supporting local farmers.

UML Canteen nutritionist Melissa Quirk adds that “procuring the freshest produce possible maximizes its nutrient composition because those nutrients have less time to decompose between harvest and consumption.”

Aramark is introducing the campus community to plant-based foods that have lower greenhouse gas emissions than animal products. For Welcome Day and Open House, the chefs prepared mushroom tacos from Fat Moon Farm. In September, Conway distributed vegan ice cream from New City Microcreamery in Hudson, Massachusetts, to students on South Campus.

Most recently, Conway hosted a “Weigh Your Waste” event in college cafeterias, during which students emptied food left on their plates into a trash can to track how much food was wasted. Erica Pen, a first-year business administration student, volunteered to help collect food waste at Fox Dining Commons.

“Cafeteria activities can highlight the impact of food waste by showing students waste minimization techniques such as proper portioning, composting and recycling,” she says. “This is a hands-on way for students and teachers to learn about sustainability in the places they frequent to reduce our impact on the environment.”

Conway plans to host more events that engage students in sustainability while bringing more local food to campus.

“Students take pride in being able to say, ‘My cafeteria serves local food,’” she says. “Students deserve to eat healthy, delicious food.”