Eckerd College joins in a national challenge to prepare meals using only ingredients raised or grown in a 150-mile radius. In Florida, that's a tall order.
By JANET K. KEELER, Times Staff Writer
Published October 5, 2005
[Times photos: Cherie Diez]
Michael Anderson, executive sous chef at Eckerd College’s Bon Appetit Cafe, hunted for food sources for the Eat Local Challenge last week. Gulf of Mexico yellowtail snapper with an orange and herb glaze was one of the offerings.
Corn from Hunsader’s U-Pick Farms
Bradenton Baby bibb lettuce from Cahaba Herbal Outpost, Odessa
Hydroponic tomatoes from Hydro-Taste, Myakka City.
Smoked pork from pigs raised in Wimauma
ST. PETERSBURG - If someone suggested you make a full meal from ingredients produced within 150 miles of your kitchen, could you do it?
It would be tough this time of year in Florida. Like winter up North, late summer-early fall in the Sunshine State is not the best time for local produce. The heat and humidity - and we've had near-record swelter this year - is unkind to many fruits and vegetables. And, as the Tampa Bay area swells in population and subdivisions, small farms are edged out, eliminating sources for local food.
That was the reality facing chefs at Eckerd College last week when Bon Appetit Management Co. challenged them and hundreds of others nationwide to offer meals made from local ingredients. For Eckerd's chefs, that meant no sugar, bread, oil, pepper or butter, because none of those is produced nearby.
Salt was available, though if they were really ambitious, they could have used the residue from evaporated seawater, like the University of Portland did. The Oregon college even unplugged the soda machines, since Coke and Pepsi aren't local products.
What Eckerd students saw on the food line was pork from Wimauma, Gulf of Mexico yellowtail snapper and Cedar Key clams. Herbs and salad greens came from Cahaba Herbal Outpost in Odessa, beans and corn were grown at Hunsader U-Pick Farms in Bradenton, and nearly everything was tinged with orange juice.
But these being college students, and not all eco-activists, they still had their pick of Cap'n Crunch, burgers and pizza, plus tofu stir-fry, an overflowing salad bar, sandwiches made on bread from the college bakery and house-made potato chips.
A search of plates showed guys gobbling up slices of succulent smoked local pork. Roasted corn was a hit, even without butter. (Diners could hunt some down if they knew the cafeteria well enough.)
Bon Appetit of Palo Alto, Calif., operates 190 cafes and restaurants across the country at private universities, corporations, sports venues and art museums, with Eckerd being its only Florida operation. Other clients include Yahoo, the Art Institute of Chicago and Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. All took part in the Eat Local Challenge on Sept. 29.
"We wished they could have waited a month, but it's peak harvest everywhere else in the country," says Paul Bulau, general manager of dining services at Eckerd.
Bulau oversees the stampede of students through the dining halls; at lunch that's about 700 in Bon Appetit Cafe. A full meal-ticket plan costs about $3,500 a year.
Why go to all the trouble of developing a local menu and finding vendors when trucks and planes can deliver asparagus in December and apples in May? Nearly all produce is available year-round, coming from as far away as Chile and New Zealand to satisfy a yen for red seedless grapes in June, among other offseason cravings.
The transportation of food across the miles causes pollution and consumes energy, says Maizie Ganzler, Bon Appetit director of communications and the project's creator. Plus, produce doesn't taste as good when it is picked early for long distance shipping.
"Is it okay with people that the food they eat travels an average of 2,000 miles to get to them?" she asks.
In case you haven't guessed it, Bon Appetit is a different kind of institutional food service company. Forget the greasy pizza grinders and tuna melts of your college days.
The company mantra is "Food services for a sustainable future." There are no recipes written by corporate foodies; local chefs plan menus. At Eckerd, the coffee is fair trade from Pura Vida, a Seattle company committed to paying Third World farmers a living wage. Company brochures are printed on 100 percent recycled paper.
"Social responsibility and great food is at the heart of what we do," Ganzler says. "Our initial interest in buying local was flavor. How can we get the best-tasting product? Buy local."
For Michael Anderson, executive sous chef of the college's main dining hall, Bon Appetit Cafe, offering all local ingredients was a daunting task, but persuading students to try something new was easy. The students, he says, are sophisticated eaters who request fish and fresh produce regularly. If clams don't sound like college food, how about pecan-crusted tilapia or mushroom risotto? Both were recently on the menu.
"The local places to buy food are not so much anymore," Anderson says. Just recently, the last orange grove in Pinellas County, operated by Orange Blossom Groves, was put on the market.
The day before the challenge, chefs and a few students headed to Hunsader (www.hunsaderfarms.com) in Bradenton to pick beans, the first of what the chefs hope will be regular trips to harvest produce for the dining hall.
Audrey Copeland, a junior anthropology and environmental studies major from Ashland, Ore., was one of the pickers. Copeland, a member of the Sustainable Campus Task Force, is responsible for the eco-friendly plastic takeout containers that recently replaced Styrofoam in the dining halls.
"I want to see Eckerd College become more green," she says. "I want the students to realize that food isn't just what's on the plate. It has an origin."
Copeland says the challenge is huge because habits and cultural influences are so strong. Sitting in the dining hall last week, she saw what was on fellow students' plates but also knows what they munch on while studying.
"If you eat good food and you support those food producers, then you reduce the junk food," she says.
Junk food is heavy on packaging, also an environmental concern, she says.
The road to eco-enlightenment is long, but Copeland applauds Bon Appetit's effort to educate students.
Now about those takeout containers.
"My goal is to have reusable ones in place before I graduate," she says.
Perhaps another challenge for Bon Appetit?
- For more information about Bon Appetit, go to www.bamco.com Janet K. Keeler can be reached at 727 893-8586 or krieta@sptimes.com
ECKERD EATS LOCAL MENU
- Fresh orange juice from Neukom Groves, Zephyrhills
- Micro red cabbage, baby arugula and lolla rossa, and yellow pea shoots with orange honey spritzer, from Cahaba Herbal Outpost, Odessa; Neukom Groves; and Florida Orange Groves and Winery, South Pasadena
- Smoked whole pigs, Wimauma
- Orange and herb glazed yellowtail snapper from the Gulf of Mexico
- Key lime poached littleneck clams, Cedar Key and Florida Orange Groves and Winery
- Steamed green beans and roasted corn, Hunsader U-Pick Farms, Bradenton
Citrus Salad Spritzer
8 ounces Florida orange blossom honey
1/2 gallon Neukom Groves fresh squeezed orange juice
Mix together well. Pour into spray bottle and generously coat greens.
Source: Chef Michael Anderson, Bon Appetit Cafe, Eckerd College.
Florida Yellowtail Snapper
2 pounds skinned and filleted yellowtail snapper
1 tablespoon chopped Florida-grown opal basil
1 tablespoon chopped Florida-grown dill
2 teaspoons chopped Florida-grown rosemary
2 cups fresh squeezed Florida orange juice
Whisk fresh herbs and orange juice together. Brush snapper fillets generously with juice/herb mixture.
Place in one layer on baking sheet with edges.
Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 15 minutes.
Serves four to six.
Source: Chef Michael Anderson, Bon Appetit Cafe, Eckerd College.
