Archive for September 2013
60 Best Colleges for Food Named By The Daily Meal
The Daily Meal has issued its 2nd Annual list of colleges that “gave their students top-notch dining experiences.” In publishing the list, The Daily Meal’s reporter, Dana Kaufman noted that students on the whole are already passionate and knowledgeable about food when they arrive at campus, and “want to know where it’s coming from.”
The criteria for evaluating college food was clearly specified: (1) Healthy Food/ Local & Sustainable: meals made in-house from scratch as well as cooked in small batches with schools committed to teaching students the benefits of buying locally and maintaining healthy lifestyles; (2) Accessibility & Service: number of eateries on campus & hours of service; (3) Events: food centered events held on campus; (4) X Factor: something creative & unique about dining service; and (5) Student Feedback: a new factor added this year.
The top five colleges on the list of 60 were (1) Bowdoin College, Maine; (2) Washington University, St. Louis; (3) Virginia Tech; (4) Emory University, Georgia; and (5) UCLA, California. Special mention was made of Middlebury College in Vermont, #22 on the list, where 32% of the Dining Service’s annual food budget is spent locally at 50 year-long and seasonal vendors including Middlebury’s own organic farm. It was also noted that the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, #7 on the list, hosts a farmers market that’s entirely student-run. In upstate New York, Cornell University, #6 on the list, operates the laudable Manndible Cafe, worthy of listing in our New York dining directory.
The “dining services partner” of Washington University, St. Louis (#2 on the list) is Bon Appetit Management Company, which according to its website is “an onsite restaurant company that provides café and catering services to corporations, colleges and universities, and specialty venues.” The company has over 500 locations in 32 states.
The arbitrariness of ranking colleges on a list is reflected by Middlebury College’s position at only #22. In this writer’s opinion, Middlebury College’s X Factor (the fourth factor delineated above) is sky-high, with its commitment to local agriculture and its “unique” dining services vis-a-vis a dining program ranked #2, which has a “dining services partner” that has over 500 locations in 32 states. Nonetheless, kudos to all of these colleges for scoring a spot on the list.
[Frank W. Barrie, 9/19/13]
Live Webcast of Farm Aid Concert from Saratoga Springs
The 2013 Farm Aid concert will be webcast from Saratoga Springs in upstate New York this coming Saturday, September 21st from 5:00PM-11:00PM. The concert is completely sold-out, with all of the seats inside the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) amphitheater selling out in under 11 minutes and 20,000 general admission lawn tickets sold out a week later. But if you can’t be in Saratoga Springs for the concert, the live webcast from Saratoga Springs on Saturday will enable viewers to enjoy the inspirational day of music and praise for the American family farm.
The concert lineup includes legendary Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson. Also to be featured in Saratoga Springs are Amos Lee, Kacey Musgraves, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Bahamas, Carlene Carter and Pegi Young & The Survivors.
Since its beginning nearly 30 years ago, Farm Aid has raised more than $43 million to strengthen the family farm system of agriculture and keep farm families on their land. In addition, back in 2008, Farm Aid founded Homegrown.org, described as “an online community of people interested in all things HOMEGROWN: growing, cooking, crafting, preserving, building, making and creating.”
Sociologist Christopher Henke, in his analysis of industrial agriculture in California’s Salinas Valley (Cultivating Science, Harvesting Power- Science and Industrial Agriculture in California) observed there has been a “great hollowing” of American agriculture: “The slogan ‘get big or get out’ defines farming in many sectors, and the result has been not the preservation of farming communities but instead a great hollowing.”
At the beginning of the 20th century, 50% of the U.S. workforce was in farming, today it’s less than 2%. Farm Aid and Homegrown.org provide hope for the future of the family farm. This weekend’s concert is a time to praise the hard-working 2%, which includes an increasing number of small farmers who grow our food with a commitment to a sustainable agriculture that cares for people and community-building, animals, land and water.
[Frank W. Barrie, 9/18/13]
Origins, a greenhouse café in Cooperstown, NY
In the countryside a couple of miles outside Cooperstown (Otsego County), NY, is an extraordinary café, Origins. It is housed in the greenhouse of a family-run garden center, Carefree Gardens. From the nursery’s small parking lot, the café is approached by a short footpath that winds through thickets of perennials, edged by trees and potted shrubs. To step into the greenhouse is to enter a wonderland of colorful flowers, tropical foliage and exotic plants. This sensory magic in upstate New York is heightened by the floral fragrance and tinkling of small fountains.
Our group of three were there for lunch. We selected a table flanked on one side by a papaya plant, complete with fruit, and on the other by tangerine and avocado trees, similarly displaying their fruits. Over our heads was a flamboyant scarlet chandelier in the form of a hanging begonia.
For the most part, Origins serves locally and sustainably produced food. The restaurant’s website states that its praiseworthy mission is to bring positive change to the world though food that is good for bodies, clean for the planet and fair to the global community. The sources of its locally produced cheeses and seasonal vegetables and fruits are listed on its menu and just inside the door there is a map showing where the produce comes from. The menu’s listing of 15 specific local sources of cheeses, greens, mushrooms, onions, sprouts, black beans & white beans, honey, teas, milk, and bread, entitled “The Origins of Your Food,” shows the commitment of the proprietors. A menu footnote advises that quinoa used in some of its dishes is sourced from Randimpak, a rural Ecuadorian women’s cooperative that also provides technical training, microfinance and health care, and the café’s coffee beans are “Peruvian fair trade & organic.” It is obvious that the chef-owners are serious about promoting first class and sustainably grown ingredients. I’m happy to report that their café’s mission is executed with culinary skill and obvious joy.
The lunch menu features casual fare and is mostly vegetarian. I selected the “Butternut Valley,” a grilled sandwich of French peasant bread (the Heidelberg Baking Company, Herkimer, NY), filled with chevre cheese, fig spread and grilled onions, served on a bed of organic greens and balsamic dressing. Another of our group chose the quiche of the day, with tomatoes and gouda, also with dressed greens. The third member selected “Painted Goat” salad, an appealing combo of Painted Goat Dairy chevre, dried cranberries and walnuts over greens. This companion diner had accidentally dislodged an avocado from a nearby tree but her embarrassment was assuaged by our server, who smilingly inquired whether she would like the avocado added to her salad. She would indeed!
While we waited for our food to reach the table, we took a stroll around the greenhouse and the garden center. What a lovely way to pass ten minutes or so. The garden center and restaurant are run by the Leonard family. Their friendliness and helpfulness is evident everywhere. No hard sell at Carefree Gardens: instead one feels genuinely welcome to browse and ask questions.
A wave from our server summoned us to our lunch. It scored on all fronts. The greens were varied and fresh, the chevre beautifully smooth, the pastry crust on the quiche crunchy and light, the blending of flavors in all dishes sublime. And the avocado (no extra charge) finely sliced atop the chevre, cranberry and walnut salad, was superb. Having never before had the experience of tasting a native-grown upstate New York avocado, it was something for us to savor and remember!
After the filling and delicious lunch, only one of our party could manage a dessert. Home-baked peach tart, drizzled with honey, was equally delicious. We had contemplated one of Origins’ choice of smoothies, which are well known in the Cooperstown area. Fruits such as blueberries, cranberries, banana and cherries are combined with local milk and honey in a selection of blends. But they are pleasures that for us would have to await another day.
Origins, a seasonal restaurant, is open for lunch every day, except Thursdays, through mid-October. It also offers a “Harvest Dinner” on Wednesday and Saturday evenings (reservation only), serving the yield of the current harvest. The Harvest Dinners are accompanied by music provided by local musicians and, as the café is not licensed to sell liquor, diners may BYOB.
For anyone seeking temporary sanctuary from the baseball themes of Cooperstown as well as locally sourced food, skillfully prepared and served in delightful surroundings, Origins can’t be beaten. In closing, since there’s no denying that the Baseball Hall of Fame has put Cooperstown on the map, let me indulge in one final note: Origins is a culinary home run, with bases loaded. [Origins Café at Carefree Gardens, 558 Beaver Meadow Road, (Cafe) 607.437.2862 – (Gardens) 607.547.9744, Lunch/Café menu: Daily 11:00AM-5:00PM (Mid-April-Early Fall), www.celebrateorigins.com]
(Eidin Beirne, 9/4/13)
