UConn Dining Services has the highest level of certification by the Green Restaurant Association, but not without the help of local farms.
Michael White, Executive Director of Dining Services, talked about ways that UConn handles food distribution. “On the local food side, we changed our direction of 15 years ago, we were buying about 11% of all of our food was local or originally purchased,” White said.
White explained that receiving food locally is a priority for Dining Services, but a large percentage of food influx comes regionally, meaning within 250 miles from UConn. Food distribution on campus primarily comes from vendors such as Sardilli Produce and Dairy and Sysco Wholesale Food.
“We are the number one buyer of Connecticut-grown produce in the state of Connecticut. It’s not even close,” White said. “We’re obviously impacted by things like weather, growing seasons.”
Among their local food sources is Spring Valley Student Farm, a community created to teach UConn students hands-on sustainability practices while they still receive a college education. For fifth-semester farm resident Anusha Prabhakar, being able to work on the farm gave her the chance to appreciate environmental practices.
“It really makes you appreciate sustainable living. It makes you feel better about your own living habits and also, the fact that you are helping the land around you,” Prabhakar said. “We are very mindful of the ecosystems around us, and make sure to farm around the ecosystems versus destroying the ecosystems so we can farm.”
The farm collaborates with UConn Dining to provide fresh produce and encourage sustainable eating, but the food is only used at Whitney Dining Hall. Prabhakar explained that the residents at the farm work hard to receive the crops to give students an opportunity to eat nutritiously.
“In a very conserved and sustainable way, that is like a win-win for both the students and also the environment,” she said.
Dining services have input systems for sustainable practices such as cutting down on paper products usage in the past few years, instituting low flow faucet systems, as well as making strategic moves to reduce food waste. Staff are specifically trained to make the best use of every part of the produce, according to White.
A priority for Dining Services includes managing a system for all students to find nutritious food despite any kind of dietary restrictions, White said. In collaboration with the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD), students can specify diets directly with chefs without risking cross contamination.
“We try to make sure the food is fresh, that it’s really good ingredients from really good sources,” White said. “We obviously worry about a lot of different categories of sustainability. We want every student’s experience to be the same, whether that’s a religious based accommodation, or a dietary based accommodation.”
Dining Services advertise options for gluten-friendly and plant-forward dining, along with collaborative events with groups such as Husky Harvest Food Pantry. Despite Whitney being a highlighted representation of eco-friendly collaboration with Spring Valley, Prabhakar said prior to living on the farm, other dining halls were “a struggle a little bit” with the limited hours open to students and a smaller selection for those with dietary restrictions.
The farm uses its own group of residents to teach sustainable practices to local student groups and host volunteer events. Visitors are invited to join programs about farming and crop production by actively contributing to the land. Prabhakar said that more awareness of the farm and how local produce being used in UConn’s dining process would help students connect with the environment through their eating.
Despite funding support coming from Dining Services towards managing the farm and visual advertisements posted in dining halls, the small number of student residents make crop production limited. Prabhakar said “producing that [bigger community] will result in producing more on the farm so that we could give more to the dining services, see if we can also help out enough that we can help out locals.”
The development of meal plans has contributed to making the quality of student eating increase over the past few years, White said. Dining Services finds new ways for students to make use of options such as flex passes while still maintaining a balance between funding and sustainability.