From the tree to the truck to students' trays, Tufts is taking extra steps to make sure that the origins of the food served in the dining halls are no longer a mystery.
On Tuesday morning, students awoke to BreakFEAST at Dewick, a special event that showcased Dining Services' efforts to promote sustainability through food.
The event, coordinated by the Food Education and Action for Sustainability at Tufts (FEAST) program, was meant to raise students' awareness about where their food comes from, and to advocate environmentally safe and sustainable harvesting practices.
The event included menu items such as cage-free egg omelets, fair trade coffee and bananas, and local produce from nearby New England farms. Students could also make smoothies with a bicycle-powered blender, to promote health awareness and energy conservation.
Tufts Sustainability Coordinator Sarah Hammond Creighton said that it is important for students to know where the food they eat is coming from.
"It's good to raise awareness of the connections between the environment and food, and to celebrate the effort that dining [services] has made," Creighton said.
Incorporating local products and fair trade foods into a large-scale facility like Tufts Dining takes a considerable amount of preparation and time, said FEAST co-founder Melissa Bailey, a student at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
"We did work quite a bit with the operational aspects of food services," Bailey said. Finding ways to make the program work meant flexibility on the dining hall's end.
"We would go around and talk to different dining hall managers about trying to introduce new products, and explained to them the challenges of searching for local foods from farmers directly - things like not getting exactly what you ordered because the crop was not as successful as they thought it would be, and making menus flexible enough to work with that," Bailey said.
According to Julie Lampie, the nutrition marketing specialist for Dining Services, planning the event itself required a lot of work on the part of FEAST and Dining Services.
"It entailed sourcing all the products we're serving today," she said, noting that the local produce comes from Lanni Orchards in Lunenburg, Mass. "And ensuring that we have two fair trade coffee choices, which are available daily, along with fair trade organic bananas."
The main focus of the BreakFEAST was the recent switch to cage-free liquid eggs, which are used in scrambled eggs, omelets and other baked goods.
"Dining Services was completely receptive to [the transition] once we brought it up," Bailey said.
But there's still more work to do, she said. The hard-boiled eggs served at Tufts are not yet cage-free.
"It would be great to make that change, but there is a large price differential that you don't see when you switch to cage-free liquid eggs," she said. "It would be a budget issue for Dining Services to explore."
Students - often without even realizing it - reap the results of FEAST's work every time they eat a banana or take a sip of coffee in the dining hall, she said. Special events like the BreakFEAST are designed to literally wake up students as to what they are consuming and how their food makes it onto their trays.
"The events are there to engage students, trying to get them to advocate for the availability of these things in dining halls," Bailey said.
Lampie agreed that the best way to increase students' interest is by tempting them with food.
"We think the best way to educate is through food, because it is fun and interactive," she said.
Freshman Mark Esposito did not know about BreakFEAST until he walked into Dewick on Tuesday morning, but he said that he found the materials and information on fair trade foods enlightening.
"When you think about it, lots of big companies go into countries and milk them dry by paying low wages," he said. "I don't know how many schools [offer fair trade products], but most times people just want to make more money. We're changing lives and it probably only costs a few more cents."
Esposito was glad that Tufts goes above and beyond when it comes to food matters.
"It makes me feel better to know that my food's not coming from animals hooked up to hoses," he said.
Sophomore Marie Benkley said that she is glad that Tufts Dining is making informed choices about the food served.
"It is really important to me," she said. "I'm a vegan and I'm really concerned about what I'm eating for ethical reasons. Local and organic foods factor into my beliefs - I think it's a cool thing that Tufts does."
Other students were not as excited by Tuesday's event. Senior Job Mukkada said that breakfast was not necessarily the ideal time for FEAST to spread its message.
"To be honest, I don't know much about the issue - I kind of rushed through breakfast because I have a class," he said. "I plan to learn more at lunch; maybe at lunch I'll feel more strongly."
For those who missed the BreakFEAST, another sustainability food event will take place on Wednesday, when the Harvest Food Festival and the Foodtalk nutrition fair bring vendors with healthy food samples to campus, Lampie said.
Bailey reiterated that the Harvest Food Festival is something for students to look forward to.
"It's a great time in New England to get local fruits and veggies and products into the dining halls," she said.
Despite FEAST's and Dining Services' collective efforts to provide certain foods, Bailey stressed that ultimately, the importance placed on organic, local, or fair trade foods is determined by student feedback.
"We're the customers, so we need to say when we really like something," Bailey said. "People always leave comments like 'you don't have my cereal.' But when you see something that's local or fair trade, and you like that, it's almost more important to let Dining Services know. Otherwise, they don't think the extra effort and extra cost is worth it."
