A Challenge to Eat Local

Sweet potato bisque. Yellow heirloom tomato gazpacho with garlic chives. Roasted beef brisket with herb demi-glace.

If the menu isn't enough to whet your appetite, add in the fact that the dishes are created with locally grown ingredients.

On Tuesday, Sept. 25, Duke faculty, staff and students can savor a meal created entirely with products harvested within 150 miles of campus.

As part of the 2007 Eat Local Challenge, the Great Hall on West Campus and Marketplace on East Campus will feature lunch menus on Tuesday with ingredients from more than a dozen North Carolina farms, including Elodie Farms in Rougemont, Herban Meadows in Holly Springs and Eastern Carolina Organics in Pittsboro. The only non-local ingredient will be salt.

The Marketplace in East Campus Union. Click here to see the menus for Tuesday's Eat Local Challenge.

Local farmers say Duke's participation in the Eat Local Challenge shows a commitment to the environment and the local economy.

"We're excited that Duke is participating because buying local food is good for everyone," said Portia McKnight, co-owner of Chapel Hill Creamery. "Fresh products taste so much better. Our Dairyland Farmer's Cheese, which has a wonderful Jersey milk flavor, is going to be used in stuffed poblano peppers."

Other unusual culinary delights on Tuesday's menus include crab-stuffed patty pan squash, butter bean cake and honey-roasted pumpkin puree. The Eat Local menus will be offered from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Great Hall in West Union from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and at Marketplace in East Union from noon to 2:30 p.m. Prices for entrees average about $6.

The 2007 Eat Local Challenge is part of a national campaign organized by Bon Appétit, the food vendor for the Great Hall and Marketplace, as well as the Freeman Center for Jewish Life, Subway and Chick-fil-A. About 400 other Eat Local challenges are taking place across the country, including on many other campuses.

Katheldra Pinder, training director of Bon Appétit at Duke, and Michael Aquaro, Bon Appetit's executive chef and district manager, said the event is designed to promote sustainable agriculture and healthier lifestyles.

"We recognize and want to bring to the forefront of the Duke community, the precarious state of our local and sustainable food supply while highlighting the abundant variety that our region has to offer," Aquaro said. "In many respects the issues surrounding sustainability are evolving from merely social concerns to a moral dilemma as well. We are committed to achieving progress every day in our cafés, and are thrilled to have this one day to get all of our customers thinking about what they can do to bring about change."

According to Worldwatch Institute, an environmental and social policy research organization in Washington, D.C., food in the United States typically travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to table -- an increase of 25 percent farther than in 1974.

Tavey McDaniel Capps, Duke's environmental sustainability coordinator, said the Eat Local Challenge fits with Duke's continuing efforts to encourage healthier lifestyles and leave a lighter environmental footprint.

"I hope this Eat Local Challenge helps the Duke community think more critically every day about where their food comes from and the importance of supporting our local food system," McDaniel Capps said. "It is not just about the health of our bodies, it is also realizing the impact food production and transportation has on our entire environment."

Many other Duke eateries, such as The Refectory, Faculty Commons, Upstairs@the Commons and Nasher Café, use local products and seasonal foods.

Duke made a commitment in 2004 to reduce the environmental impact at its 33 eateries on campus by creating the Green Dining Committee, comprised of students, faculty, staff, eatery managers and community members. To join the committee's mailing list, send an e-mail to majordomo@duke.edu with nothing in the message body except "subscribe greendining."