Duke Dining promotes local vendors during Eat Local Challenge

Duke dining has begun purchasing local produce after a brief hiatus at the end of last year.
Duke dining has begun purchasing local produce after a brief hiatus at the end of last year.

Duke Dining is taking steps towards promoting student locavores.

The Eat Local Challenge is an event coordinated by Bon Appetit—the University’s food service provider. All food served Tuesday in the Penn Pavilion and Marketplace was sourced from within 150 miles of campus.

“This is one of many events Duke Dining does surrounding local initiatives,” Coffey wrote in an email Tuesday. “Besides just serving local foods, this event is structured to educate and inform customers on the local agriculture and food.”

The annual event started in 2005.

In the Spring, Duke Dining announced that it was going to stop buying produce and meat from local vendors for the remainder of the academic year to assess purchasing needs and negotiate prices, Rick Johnson, assistant vice president of student affairs for housing, dining and residence life, previously told The Chronicle.

Coffey noted that the transition back to supporting local produce has begun.

“We are working on getting all the updated bios from our local farmers and producers, so you will be seeing the products labeled along with information about the farmer and their farm,” Coffey wrote.

He added that Duke Dining is continuing to look at options to maximize local options.

“It’s very important to Duke Dining to offer local products to our customers and support our local community and especially the Duke Campus Farm where our compost we produce goes to the Farm to grow our products completing a full circle of sustainability,” Coffey wrote.

There are many students that expect the University to serve locally sourced food everyday, Coffey said, adding that Duke Dining is working to hold itself to the same standard.

“I think Duke is doing the best job it can to offer alternative dining options on campus after the renovations closed a lot of eating locations on campus,” said sophomore Lavanya Sunder, Duke Student Government vice president for services.

There are some potential challenges to meeting their goals of daily local options.

“Some of the seasonality of produce items does dictate variety, but our other offerings stay pretty consistent throughout the year,” he wrote.

Sunder added that the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee is working in conjunction with DSG and administrators to increase dining options on campus. She, however, has fielded more concerns for improved vegetarian and vegan choices than local options.

Coffey is very receptive to student feedback, Sunder said.

Duke Dining plans to endorse future events to promote sustainability for its consumers.

“There will be other events like ‘Meet the Farmer’ where we actually bring in our local farmers and growers to campus to allow our customers to meet them and hear about their farm and processes,” Coffey wrote.

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