The Observer, September 29, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 5
Bon Appetit to provide local flavor in dining halls
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On Tuesday, Bon Appetit, Case's food service provider, will be sponsoring the Eat Local Challenge on campus.
For this event, all food made in any of Bon Appetit's dining facilities will be completely composed of ingredients purchased from providers within a 150-mile radius of Cleveland. The only ingredient not purchased locally will be salt.
On the menu at Leutner and Fribley will be roast pork braised with apple cider, potato moussaka with grass-fed ground beef, fried cabbage, braised turnip greens, mulled apple cider, and mashed potatoes with cream. Fribley will also have organic rotisserie duck.
Tomlinson will be serving corn bisque, boneless pork chops with applesauce, maple acorn squash, and frozen maple mousse for dessert, among other things.
The purpose of the Eat Local Challenge is both to show students what kind of food can be grown locally and to provide an economic boost to the surrounding area.
"We went out to Bob Calala's shrimp farm last Saturday," said Dan Farrell, district manager at Bon Appetit. "We bought 1000 pounds of shrimp that day, and that provided thousands of dollars to that area."
This is Bon Appetit's third year on campus. "The first two years were like a break-in period," said Farrell. "Now we want to show everyone who we are."
Bon Appetit's identity is reflected in their company logo, "food services for a sustainable future." The company is dedicated to providing food that comes from local vendors to help boost the economy and doesn't have a negative impact on the environment.
"Buying local means we save on transportation costs to the environment including gas emissions," said Farrell.
This focus on sustainability is what sets Bon Appetit apart from other food service companies, according to Farrell.
It also makes life easier for students with restrictive diets.
"Our bread has four ingredients," said Delmar Crim, executive chef for Bon Appetit. "All of our vegetables are fresh. Students know what is in our food and that reassures them."
In the past two years Crim has seen the bakery go from an out-of-the-box operation to a from-scratch process.
"Basically, if you can't shoot it or grow it, we don't use it," said Crim.
With Bon Appetit focusing on providing fresh food with as few ingredients as possible, improvements are being made to dining facilities on campus.
"In the 1950s, it wasn't necessary to have a lot of space for fresh foods," said Farrell. "Everything was bought frozen and put straight into a freezer."
As part of Fribley's renovation, a new freezer was purchased that will become the only freezer in the facility. Whereas there were once two refrigerators and two freezers for Fribley, there will now be one dedicated freezer and five refrigerators to store all of the food.
"We are also working on zero food out of the fryer," said Farrell, noting an exception for the college student's staple: french fries. "We've even removed the oil jugs from the kitchens and replaced them with a small ladling system to keep the cooks aware of their oil use."
Bon Appetit has a clear desire to make food an important and attractive part of campus life at Case.
"We want students to not only eat well, but healthy," said Farrell.
