Pollock Dining Hall: How About An Organic Night?

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Pollock Dining Hall will soon be holding its Nutcracker Holiday Dinner, providing students with holiday fare not normally served at Penn State. Though a nice gesture, I wonder why such events are exclusive to holidays. After all, Pollock has many other reasons for specialty dinners, including raising awareness of organic and locally-grown food. If the hall puts extra effort into holidays, can’t it exert some extra effort to aid in the ethical consumption of food?

Pollock's salad bar during dinner
Taken by Sam Galambos

Pollock , with its varied buffet, meets the needs of many students’ diets. It satisfies the healthy eater with two large salad bars and a stir-fry station, whereas those with a sweet tooth enjoy the confections in Swirl. However, the dining hall fails to provide the ethical eater with many options. Granted, it offers tofu-based synthetic meat and other vegan-oriented meals, it neglects other aspects of food ethics- especially the issues of food miles and organic foods.

Pollock must find some way to address these issues. As the student body- like much of the nation- grows more ecologically conscious, the demand for ethical food options in dining halls can only increase. Efforts to meet this demand should, hence, be taken as quickly as possible. If successful, these actions will improve not only the customer satisfaction of the hall, but also its public image. In the shadow of the recent scandal, a more eco-friendly and health-conscious dining hall will present the school in a progressive light. This process involves multiple options, each of which are beneficial and easy to implement.

1.Organic Food Night:

             From its traditional holiday fare served at the upcoming Nutcracker Holiday Meal to lobster dinners, Pollock already hosts many themed dinners. At the Nutcracker Holiday Meal the dining commons plans to serve eggnog and other yuletide dishes not normally offered. Instead of limiting its options to these specialty meals, the hall should include meals devoted to the interests of the conscientious consumer. During these unique meals, they should serve organic and locally raised food.
             By doing so, this would help support local agriculture and please concerned students. It almost certain that Pollock would receive a boost in patrons for these events and a consequent raise in awareness for locally raised, organic food. If Pollock can already adapt their system for holidays, surely, they can do the same for good causes.

Clearly one wasn't enough.
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2.Organic Food Stations

In addition to organic food nights, Pollock can devote a station to organic or local food. One of the main benefits of a buffet is variety, and an organic and local food station would only add to this variety. Currently, Pollock has two identical salad bars- two identical salad bars-, greatly detracting from its prided goal of variety.
At least one of these stations can be adapted to serving organic or local food. Adding new fruit would result in minimal issues, because half of the salad bar contains fruit as it is. Moreover, if for some reason, Pollock cannot survive without two salad bars, it can set up temporary organic stations, much like the waffle stations available only at breakfast. Though not a constant option, even an occasional, temporary organic food station helps.


3. Local Vendors in Dining Halls

Room for local vendors? I think so!
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Another option involves allowing local farmers and vendors to sell food in and near the dining halls. This way, students can meet the people responsible for their food, allowing them increased knowledge of where their food comes from and what it contains. Farmers, in turn, benefit from direct communication with consumers and increased awareness of local agribusiness. By being in or near dining halls, farmers intersect the path of many hungry students, possibly resulting in more sales. If set up in dining halls themselves, vendors can work in conjunction with the university to receive a portion of the entry cost. Specialty entrees, such as lobster, already require students to pay slightly more. The same principle can be applied to local farm vendors operating in the hall. The extra student cost could be allocated to the farmers. By locating themselves where students eat, local farmers make their products more accessible to the students than at a farmers’ market, helping to meet the consumption goals of both students and vendors.

4. Grab and Go at Convenience Stores

             Similar to the third option, this plan involves a related scenario; instead, it is based upon a conjunction with campus-run convenience stores. Since produce is sold raw, some is not immediately edible. In dining halls, this could cause difficulties, because, there, students consume rather than prepare. Though limited to serving prepared foods in dining halls, vendors could sell other products in convenience stores. There, students could buy organic and local foods in bulk and save the products for a later date, free to prepare and eat them as they please. Also, by setting up stands in convenience stores, local vendors allow time-constrained students to enjoy fresh local produce as well. Like the dining halls, these vendors could also receive profits in conjunction with the university through MealPoints or LionCash- depending on where they set up.

             All in all, Pollock already provides healthy and vegetarian food options. It is a disservice to the student body that it does not provide organic and local food. Any of the above options could promote change. Even incremental gains help. As the desire for more ethical food options increases, these improvements will be increasingly necessary. Using the above options, Pollock can start making changes now.

-Chris

Restaurants Using Local Ingredients

For many college students, farmers markets produce an impassable obstruction- having to prepare your own meal. Be it due to time constraints, lack of skill, or laziness, some students cannot overcome such a hurdle. They may want to eat local produce, but just not make it. Luckily, some restaurants serve food made from locally grown ingredients. From the hearts of the kitchen illiterate, we honor and present the following:

The Way Café and Bakery

2355 Halfmoon Valley Road
Port Matilda PA

http://www.wayfruitfarm.com/deli.php

wpsu.org

Located outside of State College, near Port Matilda, the Way Café and Bakery is only a short car ride—or longer bike ride—away from Penn State. Located on the Way Fruit Farm, the café offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All fruits and vegetables come directly from the Way Fruit Farm or other local farms. The meats and cheeses used also come from local sources. Lunch and dinner options consist of mostly deli-style sandwiches and hot sandwiches such as Beef BBG and Turkey Scampi, while breakfast choices range from oatmeal and granola to bakery confections. The Way Fruit Farm store, on the same lot, sells produce straight from the farm. The above website includes information on menus, farm history, and a local artisan shop operated on the farm.

Harrison’s Wine Grill and Catering

1221 E. College Avenue

State College, PA 16803
(814) 237-4422

http://www.harrisonsmenu.com/

Harrison’s, established in the mid-1990s, is restaurant inspired by the San Francisco Garden Project. Through the Garden Project, which teaches and encourages people to act and perform business in an ecologically friendly way, founders Harrison Schailey and Kit Henshaw were able to work with some of San Francisco’s premiere chefs and cooking staff. The project also persuaded the founders to consider the role of restaurants in the agriculture business. Due to interest in agricultural ethics, Harrison’s aims to both satisfy with delicious meals and support the local community by using locally-made produce, bread, desserts, dairy products, and meat. Chef Schailey is known for using diverse ingredients to create flavorful dishes. For more information about menus items, pricing, and catering services, please visit the above link.

Otto’s Pub and Brewery

2235 North Atherton St

State College, PA 16803

http://ottospubandbrewery.net/

At Otto’s, much of the cuisine is made using ingredients from local farms, wineries, and bakeries. Its meat comes from local cow farms--farms that use leftover brewing grain for feed. Additionally, it houses its own brewery, allowing it to draft specialty, locally-made beer. Local ingredients help add variety to what may otherwise be standard restaurant-bar fare: wings, sandwiches, soup, and fries. Since 2002, Otto’s has been making efforts to create great-tasting local dishes and drinks, and they have been met with much success. In 2010, Otto's opened a newer, larger pub, decorated with artifacts from Pennsylvania’s brewing history. For a menu, gift shop, and blog, please visit the website above.

Allen Street Grill

100 West College Avenue

State College, PA 16801-3838

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/restaurants/scecy-courtyard-state-college/

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The Allen Street Grill, conveniently located in the center of downtown State College, is a popular eatery in the area. Using local food providers (notably Tait Farms Foods in Centre Hall and Baronner’s Farm Market in Holidaysburg) to obtain ingredients, the Allen Street Grill maintains an impressive reputation while helping local agribusiness. With menu items ranging from nachos and sandwiches to steak entrees, it has established itself as one of the area’s premier restaurants. Though pricy compared to many local restaurants, the combination of quality and atmosphere, including a view of the Pattee Mall, justifies the expense. For information, including a complete menu, click the link provided.

These are a few notable restaurants that use local ingredients, directly helping the customer experience more culinary diversity and supporting local farms. The following link provides more examples, including the specific sources of restaurants’ ingredients:

http://wpsu.org/localfoodjourney/author/16784

-Chris

Farmers Markets

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The worst part of going to college is the lack of home cooking. With only a small fridge and a microwave coming in each dorm room, the chances for cooking-savvy students to take to the kitchen are few and far between. Of course, the dining halls at Penn State aren't bad (see my previous post for an entry on Pollock Commons). Still, eating at a dining hall feels like eating out... it gets old quickly. Fortunately, State College offers multiple Farmers Markets with fresh fruits, veggies, meats, pastas, and baked goods that will remind you what taste buds were made for.

Back in the good old days, way back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, people set up stands and sold things that they themselves had grown or created. While this strange practice still exists all over the world, it is much less common in the United States. Those people, now dead and in their graves, were onto something! There is something oh so fulfilling about purchasing goods directly from vendors. Instead of the guilt associated with abetting some large corporation's evil schemes of world-domination, you get the satisfaction of knowing exactly to whom your money is going, no smokescreens added. Moreover, with a Farmers Market, you get an added bonus; unlike buying overpriced chocolate to support your 9 year-old neighbor's fundraiser, you get a good deal (no middleman involved) and a high-quality product. Now, that said, I wonder where one could one find a Farmers Market in State College.

To see a complete list of Farmers Markets in State College, see http://transitioncentrecounty.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/farm-vendors-list-5-26-11.pdf. For those of you without cars (or bikes, buses, or friends with any of these), your best bet is to go to the downtown Farmers Market, Tuesdays and Fridays, from 11:30am-5:30pm. As mentioned above, you can find pretty much anything fresh that your heart desires, maybe even your next significant other (pro-tip: ditch him girls, he's no good for you anyways!). Here are my recommendations:

1. Way Fruit Farm apples! My favorite type is Honeycrisp. Although, when those run out, the other varieties are tasty as well. The one downside to eating these apples is that once you eat them other apples lose their appeal. Now, here are two analogies for this phenomenon, stratified by age: Old people (ahem, mom and dad) think of television's switch from black and white to color. The rest of you, compare the old Facebook to the Facebook when all of those people ^^ figured it out. Way Fruit Farm apples are the old Facebook and color TV (also, Macs. Yes, I went there).
2. My other favorite is banana bread from Gemelli Bakers. For those of you who, like me, don't get a real breakfast every day, this bread is handy to have around. I'm not the banana bread authority (if there is one, let me know about it!), but I'm pretty sure this bread is the standard by which all others are measured. The Gemelli Bakers also have cookies, tarts, and coffee cakes that I'm sure are worth eating.
3. My final recommendation is to just try stuff! Cooking is easy. Only recently did I discover that you can use a stove for more than canned soup, and recipes don't have to be followed exactly. Buy some veggies, maybe some meats and breads, throw it in a pan, and hope for the best. As long as you don't mix onions with peanut butter (that's probably a recipe somewhere), dinner won't turn out too badly. Plus, if your ingredients are fresh and from local farms your meal automatically tastes better.

So, if you're getting sick of the same foods every day, want to support local farmers, are trying to create a better home made meal, just want some healthy snacks, or just want to experience buying directly from the producers of a product, go to the Farmers Market!

-Sam

Pollock: Transformation

Everyone loves cafeterias. Right?

Probably not; most people don't think of the ubiquitous “cafeteria” as their first choice dining locale. According to pretty much anything produced by Disney channel, cafeterias mostly serve as battlegrounds for food fights. Despite the negative stereotype, many colleges offer tasty dining hall options (free from spaghetti raining from the sky). Check out http://collegeprowler.com/rankings/campus-dining/ to see each college's food rating based on student surveys. Considering that students have to eat this food every day for (hopefully only) four years, they would benefit from learning a bit about details like this. In fact, my sister's ultimate criteria in deciding which college to attend was the college's food quality.

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Penn State's dining halls earned a respectable A- from students. Among the many dining halls on campus, Pollock was rated the highest for the fall 2011 semester. This is good news since Pollock was redone completely over the summer, later debuting this fall. Pollock wasn't always this great.

To understand Pollock's history, we must first look at the Simmons and McElwain dining halls. If you ask for directions to either, people will aim a carefully-raised eyebrow at you. That's because McElwain was closed in the 2007-2008 school year, and Simmons closed last spring. This disappointed many people, especially those trying to stave off the dreaded “freshman fifteen." In its heyday, Simmons was the main healthy option dining hall for Penn State. However, because Penn State is a business as well as a university, both McElwain and Simmons were shut down to make room for bed space (more like hotel space if you've seen the Globe, which replaced the Simmons dining hall).

The old Pollock featured one line of food, cafeteria style, with a large seating area. It was popular among athletes, and was last remodeled in 1994. Stanley Latta, Assistant V.P. of Housing and Food Services and Residence Life, explained that because of it's layout, Pollock was “under-utilized by students," partly contributing to the need for renovation.

The downfall of these eateries meant good news for Pollock. To compensate for the loss, Pollock was completely redone, changing everything from the menus to the layout. Pollock even inherited some of Simmons' healthy options; the salad bar is extensive, with healthy entrees available as well. The healthy food even tastes good. Although, upon observing the employees, you can quickly see that the fruits and veggies come from pre-wrapped packages.

One of the cool walls in Pollock
-Taken by Sam Galambos

Aside from the menu fixes, Pollock was also remodeled. The color scheme works well, with artsy pictures on the walls to create an enjoyable eating atmosphere. However, many students feel that the actual layout could be improved upon. Places to grab food are plentiful, but they are inefficiently scattered around the dining hall. That means incoming freshmen will have to eat many meals before discovering certain sections of the commons. The seating, scattered like the food, often makes connecting with friends a challenge. On the other hand, Pollock can certainly handle much more traffic than before, meaning the renovations succeeded in this aspect, despite slightly more cramped areas.

The new Pollock commons, despite its humble beginnings, has shot up in popularity following a major remodel. Taking Simmons' old rank of highest rated dining commons in its debut semester, Pollock has gotten the job done from students' and administrators' perspectives. Hopefully, other dining options on campus will follow suit, creating similar atmospheres and healthy choices.

-Sam

Salad Travels: A Meditation on my Greens

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Crash, bang, clatter… The sounds of Pollock Dining Commons fill the air. As I push my way past the throngs of students milling by the counter to swipe in their meal points, I can’t help but think of cattle waiting in line at the feeding trough. As I mosey my way over to the salad bar I narrowly avoid three head-on collisions, thinking “so much for my fellow students watching where they are going.” At long last, I reach the salad bar and begin to load up on lettuce and salad fixings. Atop my lettuce greens I load heap upon heap of asparagus, tomatoes, and bell peppers. I finish my salad off with a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. Moving on, I stop at the fruit bar to pick up grapes and oranges. Yum! In the midst of gathering my food I can’t help but wonder, where did my food come from? This is what I found:

• Statistically speaking, my asparagus is very likely to be from one our neighbor Mexico or Peru. According to ERS data, in 2009 Mexico produced 148,421,553 units of asparagus, and Peru produced 190, 974, 059 units of asparagus (http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1771). The asparagus often travel by plane, a very inefficient method of travel.
• Tomatoes, according to the Natural Resource Defense Commission, are routinely imported from, once again, Mexico or the Netherlands (see their report here: http://food-hub.org/files/resources/Food%20Miles.pdf). My tomatoes travel either by truck or freighter depending on their country of origin.
• My yummy bell peppers can trace their birthplace to the Netherlands where they are grown in large greenhouses lit up by blazing lights, continuously producing ripe vegetables for American consumers. Bell peppers commonly travel to the US by air freight.
• The fruit bar grapes are likely imported from Chile, travelling miles by ship.
• The navel oranges, when imported out of season, may trace their country of origin to Australia, from whence they would have traveled by ship. When in season and economically feasible, the oranges may have travelled from Florida by truck.

Though shocking at the time, the global origin of my salad is far from surprising. Many of the commodities that I have come to love and enjoy like bananas, coffee, chocolate, fish and shellfish, apple juice, cashew nuts, and spices cannot be produced in the US, whether based upon their growth and processing habits or upon the cost of production. From 1990 to 2002 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data shows a steep upward trend in processed agricultural product imports (see more at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/amberwaves/february08/datafeature/).

When thought of as something more than an on-the-go meal between classes, a salad suddenly takes on a new gravitas. Though it may “take a village to raise a child,” it certainly takes a worldwide effort to bring together my humble salad. Economic and ecological effects aside, the comingling of an asparagus with a tomato is a valuable reminder of the interconnected nature of the world we live in.

-Hope

“Gotta Catch ‘em All”: The Diary of a Well-Travelled Plate

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As a child of the nineties, the Pokémon motto “Gotta catch ‘em all”—a strange foreign-born extension of America’s hunger for ever more of everything—remains an indelible facet of my childhood. Many a recess was spent trying to name the countless Pokémon (here, try your hand at it: http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/pokemon) as we avidly traded Pokémon cards for cash, candy, anything. Back and forth the cards would whip, from person to person, until they landed in the possession of the most dedicated Pokémaster. Much like the Pokémon cards of my childhood, the produce and processed foods many of us eat has been shuffled to and fro. Though, instead of passing amongst the hands of school-aged children, our food has been shuttled from the hands of farmers to middlemen, from the hands of agribusiness firms to massive shipping depots, and, lastly, to our hands in local stores. Like Ash, many of our produce and food products have gone on long journeys through countries and states far from home. Yet, instead of collecting Pokémon, our food, the modern Ash, collects passport stamps as it routinely crosses country borders.

The concept of food crossing country borders has hardly gone the way of forgotten Pokémon cards swept to the very back of bedroom closets. Today, a healthy generation of “locavores,” conscientious eaters who try to fill their diet with local foods have concerned themselves with food miles. Currently, food miles are defined as the distance a food item travels from farm to fork. According to the National Resource Defense Commission’s report on food miles (see it here: http://food-hub.org/files/resources/Food%20Miles.pdf) locavores must contend with, “on average, ingredients from at least five countries outside the United States” in any given American meal.

Though many may see the importation of foods from halfway across the country and overseas as perfectly acceptable, the journey any given piece of produce takes is hardly as benign as Ash’s many journeys. Each freighter, plane, and truck required in moving a food item from its place of origin to stores near you and I releases pollution in the form of greenhouse gases, smog forming pollutants, and particulate matter. This pollution contributes to widespread environmental degradation, health issues like asthma, and more. Buying food with fewer food-miles, like local or regional foods, has other potential benefits including:

• Superior taste, freshness, and added health value
• Contribution to local economies
• Protection of family farms

The ideas behind food-miles are, at their surface, easy to understand. Yet, there is debate as to whether the current methods of calculating food miles, such as online calculators and statistical models, take the complexities of food transport into account. FastCompany’s post “Food Miles Debunked” attests that “delivery of the final food product to the grocery store accounts for just a quarter of that travel. The other three quarters comes from delivery of inputs to farms and factories,” greatly reducing the role food miles in conservation (see the post here: http://www.fastcompany.com/article/food-miles-debunked). Thus far, the Lifecycles Project California-based calculator has best addressed the issues inherent in calculating food-miles. Their web-based calculator (try it out on a favorite food item: http://localfooddirectory.ca/?q=foodmiles) takes into account not only distance traveled, but the greenhouse gas emissions inherent in different types of transportation.

As each new generation of Pokemon hits the market—most recently, Pokemon Black and White—we are reminded that the wheels of change never cease. Likewise, the concept of food-miles will inevitably take root and become an ever-increasing field of study.

-Hope

Franken-Corn

Moral and ethical dilemmas are everywhere. They are on television, the radio, podcasts, movies, and so much more. They consume the thoughts of everyone from politicians to plumbers to businessmen, and for good reason. Any issue with no clear answer tends to be polarizing and controversial, inviting a wide variety of opinions from an even wider variety of people. As a result, it is hardly surprising that genetically modified foods, and corn in particular, have garnered so much attention.

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When driving around rural State College, Bellefonte, or virtually any of the region’s communities, it is almost impossible to avoid seeing a field of corn somewhere along the way. Corn is incredibly popular, both among consumers and producers. Demand for corn is exhibited when buying everything from cereal to E85 ethanol gasoline to plant-based drywall. Due to the high demand for corn, it is a relatively lucrative crop for farmers to plant. The result: lots and lots of corn in Centre County fields.

Modern corn, however, isn’t as ethically sound as its forefathers. Consider, for example, the prevalence of genetically modified corn. According to an article featured in the Chicago Tribune this past May, “genetically modified corn, soy and other crops have become such common ingredients in processed foods that even one of the nation’s top organic food retailers says it hasn’t been able to avoid stocking some products that contain them.” Some of the most esteemed brands in healthy eating, such as Kashi and Tofutti, use genetically modified corn in their products because it has become almost inescapable. And if genetically modified corn has found its way into organic products, you can be quite certain that it is exponentially more prevalent in products made by less meticulous companies.

AllergyKids.com

Although crops are generally modified to produce a better tasting, hardier plant, many people remain skeptical of the merits of GMO’s. On the government-sponsored webpage www.ornl.gov, scientists elucidate some of the most common concerns regarding the consumption and production of GMO’s in this country and abroad. For example, it is possible for an altered version of corn to pose human health impacts, including allergens and the transfer of antibiotic resistance markers. Additionally, the genetic modification of a crop can be patented, resulting in the “domination of world food by a few companies.” Without question, this poses very real risks to the people of State College and beyond. Should those few companies decide to increase the price of their seeds, then virtually every product with corn on its list of ingredients will be more expensive. Furthermore, this domination of seed distribution means that there are fewer and fewer varieties of corn in existence. This narrows the diet of the average Centre County citizen, exposing him or her to less genetic variety.

On a conspiratorial level, the site also lists the “increasing dependence on industrialized nations by developing nations, biopiracy, and foreign exploitation of natural resources” as potential side effects of genetic modification. If any of these potential side effects came to pass, the result would likely be the skewing of new genetic advances in favor of the world’s more established, wealthy nations. While this may seem like a non-issue given that the readers of this blog live in one of the world’s wealthiest nations, it is a problem of considerable magnitude in third world nations with underdeveloped resources. On an economic and political level, the world benefits from cooperation because it can lift societies out of poverty, some of which can then purchase goods from other nations while exporting their own. The addition of another prosperous country means that more goods will be produced and more will be consumed. Therefore, exploitation of third world countries serves only to retard global economic development.

So how prevalent are GMO’s? To answer this question, a further examination of the nation as a whole is necessary. According to the aforementioned government website, approximately 53% of the world’s transgenic crops are grown in the United States. Given that 252 million acres of transgenic crops were planted in 22 different countries by 10.3 million farmers in 2006 alone, this is a startling statistic. Additionally, a study conducted by Santa Clara University revealed that as much as 75% of processed foods made in America contain at least some GM ingredients. The study also states that “almost everything that contains soy or corn…has been genetically modified.” To make matters worse, over “40% of the corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified.”

But it doesn’t end there. It is also possible for genetically modified crops to cross-pollinate with ordinary crops, resulting in the transfer of foreign genes and proteins into the human food chain. These hybrids could easily outperform the varieties lacking the GM traits, resulting in a natural selection of sorts. The corn less resistant to droughts, sharp changes in weather, or pests would be far less likely to survive.

In spite of the promise held by GM corn to feed the mouths of a hungry world, the crop grown in our backyard has a tarnished reputation. For many, the possibility of tastier, healthier corn with a longer shelf life doesn’t outweigh the possibility of a seed oligopoly, increased dependence on industrialized nations by underdeveloped countries, potential human health side effects, or the unintended spread of GMO’s through cross-pollination. And yet, these risks have not tempered the expansion of GM corn into nearly every facet of daily life. Present in everything from protein powder to canned soups to barbecue sauce, corn is an ingredient that cannot be ignored. If an ethical change is to be made for the gastrointestinal benefit of Centre County and beyond, GM corn would be an excellent place to start.

-Ian