October 2016

Students Spice it Up at UAlbany

Adventuresome UAlbany students have driven the hunger for spicy food on campus, with dining services responding by introducing special events this fall aptly entitled, Spice it Up. “Not only have students verbalized their desire for more authentic spicy foods, but UAlbany’s 2016 Resident Dining Survey clearly showed that students crave hot and spicy dishes,” stated UAlbany Dining’s Marketing Director Lauren Mancuso. “And the hotter, the better!”

“Spice it Up was introduced across all five all-you-care-to-eat resident dining rooms with the focus on menus representing some of the world’s spiciest cuisines,” said UAlbany Dining’s Executive Chef Gerard Oriol.  The menus so far have featured dishes from Mexico, Thailand, India and Szechuan Province China and included lemongrass squash soup with chicken, a fiesta Mexican salad, aloo gobi, pad thai with shrimp, Szechuan pork, and ginger spice cupcakes.  

Dining services has also enhanced the Spice it Up events by pairing them with nutrition tablings presented by Donna Duffy, the campus dietitian. “We want to educate our students on the variety of spices used in the Spice it Up menu, such as turmeric and ginger, so students could start to appreciate healthier ways of adding flavor without calories and sodium,” said Duffy.

In order to further satisfy students’ on-going interest in adding spice to their meals, each resident dining room has permanently introduced a spice station so that students can continue to explore different spices beyond the ubiquitous salt and pepper.

“These events are great,’ said senior Justin Robinson while eating a Spice it Up dish with added hotteness from a bottle of Sriracha from the spice station.  “My friends and I love spicy food. We can’t get enough of it. ” 

Brown Dining launches Garden Grab Bags

In response to more and more students looking for meals that use fresh, simple, and local ingredients; this semester Brown Dining rolled out Garden Grab Bags at several retail dining locations on campus. Modeled after the success of national subscription box meals and developed with students who live in dorms in mind, these bags are ideal for anyone with a busy schedule. 

Available weekly, Garden Grab Bags feature a different salad choice each week and include a recipe and all the ingredients needed to create a delicious meal for one or a side dish for two. Ingredients are pre-measured, and recipes only need a butter knife, clean cutting surface, water, microwave, and bowl to create. 

"We're excited to offer students not only an affordable, fresh meal but, a way to engage with food while learning easy-to-duplicate recipes and basic cooking techniques," said Brown's Retail Culinary Manager, Kirby Dorius, "

So far, the most popular bags have featured a Lemon Tahini Kale Salad with yellow beans, grape tomatoes, and pumpkin seeds and a Skinny Vegetable Spaghetti Salad, with spiral cut vegetables, drizzled with lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and garlic infused olive oil. Recipe cards include icons for locally sourced ingredients, a call out for potential allergens and a hashtag for students to share their experiences.

"As the popularity of these bags grows, we hope to roll out even more recipes and include cooking demonstrations so students, staff, and faculty can learn to make more tasty and wholesome meals." said Dorius.

UConn’s Tasty Waste Lunch Was Tasty Indeed

UConn Dining Services  and the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR) teamed up to present  a “Tasty Waste” lunch on Wednesday, September 21st from 11:00am – 1:30pm outside on Fairfield Way. A warm sunny day helped to entice 1,256 UConn students and other community members to partake of the complimentary meal prepared from foods destined for the landfill.

The menu, which garnered rave reviews from students, included several vegan and gluten-free items: Apple Pear Cucumber Aqua Fresca (flavored sparking water), made with gleaned apples from a local orchard and leftover cucumbers; Southwestern Beef Chili and Brunswick Stew made with frozen meat; Provencal Vegetable Soup made with excess onions, celery and zucchini; Cornbread, made from locally gleaned corn; Blueberry Bread Pudding made from gleaned blueberries and leftover bread from Panera Bread, served with a variety of UConn Dairy Bar ice cream flavors.

“Food donations were received from supermarkets, restaurants and local farms,” said Rob Landolphi, Assistant Manager for Culinary Operations and menu planner for the Tasty Waste lunch.

“Most of the food would normally end up in a landfill, but even UConn’s sanitarian agrees it is perfectly safe to eat,” Landolphi said.

Ice cream with too many chocolate chips, for example, may be thrown out due to quality control measures, while farmers are often forced to leave perfectly good fruit and vegetables to rot in the fields when the cost of harvesting them outpaces their market value.

Dining Services does not exist just to feed people, Landolphi said, it is also part of the academic experience at UConn.

“We have to look at Dining Services as an educational component of the university,” said Landolphi. “We need to educate students on knowing where their food came from, how to make smart choices when it comes to putting food on your plate and making sure you understand food waste.”

Dining Services has implemented numerous initiatives to reduce food waste, including tracking consumption on a daily basis to better predict demand, reusing frozen leftovers in future recipes, donating excess food to soup kitchens and composting scraps that are no longer fit for consumption.

Marist Dining Accommodates Special Dietary Need Students

Each academic year brings a new group of students with special dietary needs into the Marist Dining Hall. Campus Executive Chef, Anthony Legname, and his culinary team are committed to satisfying the requests of incoming students with dietary concerns.

Marist students with special dietary needs are granted access to the MyZone kitchen, a secluded space off of the Dining Hall that remains free of the seven main allergens: wheat, eggs, milk, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish and soy. Students with swipe access to the kitchen can enjoy hot allergen-free lunch and dinner entrées along with gluten free pizza, chicken tenders and french fries. A large refrigerator and shelving space is also available for students to store other food items as part of their restricted diet. The Marist Dining culinary team also makes special meals for students from scratch including yogurt, muffins and pastas.

Over family weekend, parents approached Chef Anthony and his team to thank them for their work in making their students feel at home. One mother brought a set of gifts for the four chefs who manage her daughter’s daily meals. “Many of these students are away from home for the first time,” comments Legname. “We want to offer a positive experience in meeting their dietary needs so that parents can feel more comfortable and students can focus on their studies.”

In addition to serving special dietary needs, Marist Dining is also responsible for over 4,000 meals a day in the dining hall, six campus cafes and catering services.

 

One of the major awards given by the association, the prize was created in 2012 to recognize auxiliary services leaders who are making a difference across college campuses by focusing on building community on and off campus. Toong was recognized for his ability to build strong connections, meaningful relationships and a powerful sense of community at UMass Amherst. 

NACAS cited Toong’s leadership in supporting the New England regional food system, including working with a network of more than 80 local and regional farmers and value-added suppliers. Each year over $1 million is spent in Massachusetts supporting local farmers, while more than $ 4.3 million is spent on local/regional and sustainable food products.

Other examples of Toong’s community involvement include:

• Founding and co-chairing the UMass Dash and Dine, an annual 5K run/walk hosted by UMass Dining Services with net proceeds donated to the Amherst Survival Center.
• Partnering with the Craig’s Door shelter to ensure any leftover food from the dining commons is used to feed those that are hungry and in need.
• Supporting many registered student organizations through mentorship and cost deferment of their events and projects.
• Guest lecturing nationally and on campus focusing on the multiple aspects of running an efficient auxiliary enterprises operation while supporting the local economy.

In accepting the honor, Toong said, “It’s all about building relationships and supporting community in order to better serve this great university.”