Local Produce

Summer is the perfect time to enjoy local produce because of the sheer variety of fruits and vegetables that are available. I’ve waited all winter for ripe berries, juicy tomatoes and sweet stone fruit. We get a few months of this bounty and when the season is over, we wait patiently for summer to come again so we can enjoy our favorites. Connecting and eating with the seasons can be rewarding but also a tough challenge as many of us now rely on grocery stores to provide year-round produce.

FUN FACT
Did you know that the average food item has traveled 1,500 miles to get to your plate? Seeking out local food, understanding how it was grown and learning more about the people who grew it can be an empowering experience. Not everyone has the opportunity to shake hands with the person that grew their food but for those that do, it carries more weight than a certification.

WAIT, THERE’S MORE
Did you also know that how we eat can have as big an impact on climate change as transportation and energy? When produce is shipped, flown or trucked long distances, it must be harvested before it ripens so as to survive the journey. Many producers started developing and growing varieties that held up to transportation and overlooked flavor and nutrition as desirable qualities in their produce. As a result, it is often less nutritious and less tasty, uses a lot of fuel and causes pollution. In addition to being hard on the environment, American farms, owned and operated by family members as a primary income, are disappearing.

BOTTOM LINE
There is huge value in supporting our local farmers. It’s important for our food security, our health, and future generations that we support the local agriculture and preserve flavor. Our annual Eat Local promotion kicks off this month and celebrates local produce and the mid-sized American family farm.

Look for ways to support local farmers in your area by visiting farmers markets, participating in Community Support Agriculture (CSAs) or supporting local co-ops. Localharvest.org is a great resource to find farmer’s markets and CSAs in your area.

Reference: https://bit.ly/2tik0CQ

Written by Julia Jordan and Jennifer M. Roberts, MS, RD.
AUGUST 2018
balanceittakesyou.com

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Local Apple Sauce and Transparency in Sourcing

with campus executive chef Tom Barton

As you may have seen – or already tasted! – we are now featuring an awesome, delicious, and locally sourced apple sauce. The sauce is made with apples grown in local Massachusetts orchards. And if that wasn't enough, there is only one ingredient: apples. That's right, just apples. No sweeteners or additives, just 100% locally sourced apples. Currently, it is being made with Macintosh apples but changes with the seasonal offerings.

The sauce is made by Karl Dias – commonly referred to in our kitchens as "the apple sauce guy." Karl reports that he has a steady supply of various varieties of apples and will continue to make sauce throughout the winter. Karl sent me a note over the weekend letting me know that he just finished a batch using macoun apples and thought it just might top his current batch of Macintosh sauce!

Because of the outstanding flavor, clean label, and local regionality of the product, we wanted to feature it as quickly as possible. However, not knowing how well it would be received we started with just a few cases and within a day had to order more. I think the first week Karl delivered to us three times just to make sure we had enough!

The apple sauce is currently being featured in a few different places around campus. It is available in both Stetson East and International Village at the yogurt stations for lunch and dinner. Additionally, we are making "apple sauce parfaits" with apple sauce and either raisins or dried cranberries. These grab-and-go items are available at On The Go, Outtakes, and café716.

Karl also stopped by to talk with and educate students about his product at our recent "Culinary Chat" table at International Village last week (photo above).

These are the types of local, seasonal items we at Northeastern Dining continue to search for and serve on a year round basis.

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What We're Cooking This Semester

with Northeastern campus executive chef Tom Barton

I would like to welcome everyone back to campus. Hope everyone had a great summer and hope everyone is settling in. We have received a few questions about some of our local products that we serve so I thought I would take this opportunity to talk a little more about the products that we do purchase locally.

Right now is a GREAT time to buying local. What we buy changes from week to week based on our menus and what items the farmers feel is in peak condition to send to us. The past few weeks have been filled with potatoes, carrots, onions, beets, kale, chard, lettuces, squashes of all sorts, tomatoes, corn, and, of course, apples. Keep an eye out at Stetson for Chef Sam's fresh corn station – if you like Mexican street corn you'll love this!

Many of the items listed above fit perfectly into our "root to tip" vegetable program. In short, we use as much of the vegetable as possible – including the peel and the tops. Many of the vegetables we leave the peel on for added flavor and nutrition. Carrot and beet tops could be braised with other vegetables or made into a "pesto" and be incorporated back into the preparation.

We are also using some IDP – Imperfectly Delicious Produce. These are items that would have been left in the field because they don't look 100% perfect but they still taste great! IDP items that we have been using include small cut broccoli, baby kale, romaine lettuce, and cauliflower.

We will be buying and using many local products well into November and December. Our choices are certainly limited at that time but we are still able to get many local hard squashes and potatoes.

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Welcome Back Huskies!

It is great to see everyone back on campus! It was an exciting summer for us and we have many great programs and events planned for this semester. Here are a couple highlights of what's happening on campus.

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Red's Best: From the Sea to Your Plate

While we may be back to seasonal temperatures after having been teased by summer weather a few weeks ago, one thing is certain: the summer fishing season is just around the corner. Winter's hold on the ocean waters has subsided and local fishermen are feverishly preparing their boats and crews for a return to the sea. What does this all mean for dining at Northeastern?

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Eating Local at Northeastern: What's Ahead for 2012?

Welcome back students! We have been busy over the winter break working with the Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP) and their group of growers and farmers to better understand what they will be growing and what the projected harvest times are for their products.

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Supporting Local Farms at Northeastern

My name is Tom Barton and I am the Executive Chef for Northeastern Dining Services. I will be bringing you news and information from the campus kitchens and beyond every week in the "Behind the Menu" on the NU Dining blog. If there is a specific topic you would like to see discussed on here, please do not hesitate to leave a comment below.

Before we get into my first blog post, here's a little background information on my culinary career. Before coming to Northeastern, I worked with the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. where I helped cater many VIP events, including the inaugural ball for President George W. Bush as well as a dinner in honor of the 50th anniversary of NATO attended by President Bill Clinton. I also worked for several years at the Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons hotels here in Boston where I had the opportunity to cook for a number of celebrities including the royal family of Saudi Arabia, Sir Elton John, Prince Charles, and Diana Ross. I hope I can bring some of the experience I gained cooking for these high-profile events to cater to your culinary needs here at Northeastern. Now onto our first topic: eating local.

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