Food Matters, Local and Organic

Columnist Mark Bittman points out in the International Herald Tribune why organic food isn’t always the best choice, especially when considering carbon footprint. And speaking of local food, Doug Hubley wrote a really nice summary of a presentation by  four Maine-based Bates alumni, each an expert in food issues.

Noticing Who Gets the Good Food

For 35 years, Bates alumnus and food activist Mark Winne has been working to close the gap between the kinds of food available to rich and poor. What I really appreciate is his constant awareness that the agribusiness model we take for granted as “normal” is a chemically dependent system that only developed since World War II.

Fun Food Facts from Bates Dining Services

During a recent President’s Council meeting of Bates vice presidents, deans, directors and managers representing the entire College, we heard some interesting factoids from Christine Schwartz, our dynamic director of dining services. Here are a smattering:

(Answers at bottom of this post)

1. Do Bates students eat more potatoes or fruit?

2. How many hand-stretched pizzas are projected to be eaten this academic year?

3. How many meals are donated each year to the local food bank?

4. How much waste goes into the Dining Services dumpster? (Warning: trick question.)

Answers

1. Bates students eat about 6,000 pounds of fruit per month and 2,000 pounds of potatoes. Eighty-five percent of the potatoes were grown in Maine.

2. 35,000 pizzas. The dough balls are produced locally by DaVinci’s Restaurant of Lewiston and by the  Spelt Right Bakery of Yarmouth (owned by Bates alums Beth George ’85 and Tim Kane ’82).

3. More than 33,000 meals are donated each year to the local food bank. It is food that isn’t eaten at each meal, about 40 meals per meal period — which isn’t much, considering that the College averages about  1,700 meals per meal period.

4. None. There is no dumpster! After years of trying new and different ways to recycle (Bates was the first Maine college to divert its food waste to a pig farm), about 90 percent of  Dining Services waste is  diverted from the waste stream. The remaining 10 percent is transported in bags by the same contracted hauler who does Bates’ recycling. It averages about 200 pounds of waste per day, seven bags of waste.

Getting Started

We are excited to announce a new initiative, Nourishing Body and Mind: Bates Contemplates Food, to help expand the ways that we think about, appreciate and choose our food. With food as the thread that connects us, to each other and to our larger community, we will spend the next year celebrating and contemplating more deeply the ways that gathering together around food enhances and supports the College’s mission.