|
There's always something new happening with Campus Dining! Be sure to check back here for the latest updates, special events or special schedules.
Fall 2007
Chef Michel Nischan initiates Green Wave Farm-to-College program to provide locally grown dining options to Vassar College
Delicious, Homegrown Cuisine Available for Students
New York, September 2007– On September 26, 2007, Michel Nischan and Green Wave will launch a health conscious, environmentally mindful culinary program to the students, faculty and staff at Vassar College during the kick-off of Vassar’s Local Foods Week. Green Wave Farm-to-College has been created to change the way society eats and cares for the environment by emphasizing a reliance on local food supplies, starting with this program’s pilot project at Vassar College.
Food policy activists Chef Michel Nischan, Founder/Executive Director of Wholesome Wave LLC and Chef/Owner of Dressing Room, A Homegrown Restaurant, which celebrates locally-produced American heritage cuisine, former Undersecretary of Agriculture Gus Schumacher, Food Arts Magazine Editor-in-Chief Michael Batterberry and Lila Gault of Gault Green Communications, have joined forces to create a program to bring locally grown, healthy food to college campuses on a year round, profitable basis.
Green Wave founders, along with Davenport Farms, Migliorelli Farms, Cyre Inc. at Hudson Valley Foodworks, and Maureen King, Senior Director of Campus Dining at Vassar, will provide sauces, salsas, and sides, made from Hudson Valley vegetables and fruit, using recipes from Chef Nischan and Vassar Head Chef Mike Conlin for pizza sauce, tomato sauce, ratatouille and salsa. Corn, carrots, onions and apples are also being offered. All of the produce is minimally processed by Cyre at Hudson Valley Foodworks, frozen in conveniently sized bags and delivered to Vassar kitchens for use throughout the year.
Green Wave Farm-to-College will be launched on Wednesday, September 26, when Vassar students will compete in an Iron Chef-style Big Sauce Challenge at the All Campus Dining Center (ACDC). Chef Nischan will introduce the Green Wave program and act as Competition Chief Judge, along with Vassar Head Chef Conlin and Dean of the College, Judy Jackson. All contestants will receive a copy of Homegrown, Chef Nischan’s latest cookbook and the winning sauce will also be featured on ACDC’s menu for the remainder of the year. This event kicks off Vassar’s Local Foods Week, when campus dining encourages students to “eat local” for a week.
Green Wave Farm-to-College is the collaboration of farmers, educators, activists and culinary experts working together to create a sustainable system that benefits both the involved parties and the recipients of the products. The program acts as an ecosystem with all parts working together towards the same goal, where none could exist without the other. Green Wave Farm-to-College is pioneering the road to healthy living, providing a viable business model for others to replicate, and acting as the catalyst of change for the global community.
The project will provide benefits for society on multiple levels:
- Creating new markets for farmers by procuring unsold overripe and “seconds” produce
- Providing health conscious recipes to the college culinary staff and students
- Offering students local, healthy food alternatives
- Cultivating the land and promoting the use of seasonal produce
- Encouraging a sustainable community
- Building an ecosystem of farmers, producers, educators and culinary experts
- Enhancing a sense of community and collaboration
Since 2002, Vassar Campus Dining, in partnership with ARAMARK Higher Education, its campus dining provider, has been a strong advocate for making the connection between farms and colleges, forging relationships with farms, orchards, and dairies throughout the Hudson Valley. The college’s work has been recognized by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and her Farm-to-Fork initiative. The food service at Vassar has been managed by ARAMARK, a world leader in providing professional services, since 1989.
Event Details:
Date: September 26, 2007
Location: Vassar College, Students’ Building, All Campus Dining Center (1st floor)
Time: 5:30PM - 7:30PM
Schedule: 5:30 – 6:00: Welcome – Maureen King; Green Wave Introduction – Chef Nischan
6:00 – 7:00: Big Sauce Challenge – Chef Nischan, Chef Conlin and Dean Jackson, Judges
7:30: Awards; Q & A – Maureen King; Chef Nischan
About Dressing Room
Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant (27 Powers Court, Westport, CT; 203-226-1114) serves updated American heritage cuisine, food that emphasizes excellent regional ingredients and pure flavors offered in a welcoming setting and served with genuine, neighborly hospitality. Chef/ owner Michel Nischan, who is credited with creating a cuisine of well-being, focused on a respect for green, local, organic ingredients, has channeled his passion into a menu that offers healthy, sustainable food, supporting the local artisans, farmers, fishers and producers who make these foods possible.
About Green Wave
Green Wave Farm-to-College, an initiative of Wholesome Wave LLC, provides healthful, delicious, locally grown food for college dining menus by building new partnerships among chefs, farmers, processors and foodservice professionals. Beginning in 2007-2008 with a pilot program at Vassar with ARAMARK Higher Education, Green Wave is creating a new and viable business model for college foodservice nationwide.
About Vassar College
Vassar College is a privately endowed, nonsectarian, nonprofit, institution of higher education located in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1861, Vassar is consistently ranked as one of the best liberal arts colleges in the country, renowned for its groundbreaking achievements in education, long history of curricular innovation, and beauty of its campus. For more information, go to: www.vassar.edu
|