Food a popular cause at schools

Food a popular cause at schools

	Published : Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:51 By : Agencies Print this Story

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - College students may have a reputation for partying and late-night pizza, but the menu at Yale University reflects a choosier appetite.

It features grass-fed hamburgers, organic tomato sauce, low-fat milk from a cooperative and coffee and teas that meet fair trade standards.

Food is the new cause at Yale and elsewhere, with students pushing their schools to use their substantial purchasing power and influence to buy locally grown or organic produce. They say such purchases are healthier, help struggling smaller farmers and reduce pollution from fuel needed to ship food long distances.

Colleges are listening, stepping up their purchases, adding courses and conferences on sustainable agriculture and even starting organic farms in cities like New Haven and Providence, R.I.

'We are trying to change the culture of food on college campuses around the country,' said Laura Hess of the Yale Sustainable Food Project. 'We believe the world's most pressing questions and problems cannot be adequately addressed without looking at food and the way we produce it.'

Yale will hold a first-of-its-kind summit Saturday and Sunday with students from 50 colleges around the region in an effort to galvanize a national movement around food. The summit will end with a declaration of principles that students can bring back to their colleges to push for changes.

Supporters hope those changes spread from campuses to wider society.

About 70 percent of colleges buy food from local farms and 64 percent serve fair trade coffee, certified as meeting practices that do not exploit laborers, according to a new study by Sustainable Endowments Institute, a nonprofit group based in Cambridge, Mass. The study of 200 public and private universities with the largest endowments also found that 27 percent of schools offer cage-free eggs and more than one-third buy milk from a local dairy.

Mark Orlowski, executive director of the institute, said the results are good, but could be even better because of the benefits of locally produced food.

'It's more fresh, it tastes better and it has a lower impact on the environment,' Orlowski said.

Colleges also are stepping up their courses and programs. At Yale, an environmental studies major now offers a concentration in sustainable agriculture.

Yale and many other colleges in recent years have started organic farms that avoid the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. They are also changing their menus to serve food produced in a way they consider environmentally sustainable.

Santa Clara University in California buys 80 percent of its produce from local farms and serves cage-free eggs and hormone-free milk, according to the study. Brown University in Rhode Island started a farm this year.

Princeton University, which has students attending the summit, has been stepping up its purchases of locally grown food. Students organized a farmer's market this fall.

'It wasn't on our radar five years ago,' said Stuart Orefice, the university's director of dining services.

The favorite cereal at Princeton 10 years ago was Captain Crunch, but now it's oat bran. Princeton serves free-range chicken and grass-fed beef, which supporters say is healthier for cows than corn and avoids fertilizers and pesticides.

Orefice attributes the changes to student demand.

'They are vocal. They tell you exactly what they'd like to have,' Orefice said.

Yale began introducing locally grown and organic food in 2002 at one of its 12 colleges. The effort was so popular that some students put stickers on their identification cards to gain access to that cafeteria, organizers said.

Now all 12 of Yale's colleges have some sustainable options, though they still serve hot dogs and other traditional food.

Yale opened a cafe this week in a new library that includes fair trade coffee and chocolate, local organic produce and meat that is hormone and antibiotic free. The menu changes with the seasons.

Jenny Nissel, a senior at Yale, said the food is healthier and tastes better.

'The fantasy I have is one day everything will be sustainable,' Nissel said.