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Dartmouth celebrated its growing relationship with area farmers during the
Farm to Dartmouth Food Expo, a dining event at Thayer Dining Hall held the
evening of May 17. The special menu featured natural chicken breast from Misty
Knoll Farm (New Haven, Vt.) stuffed with herbed goat cheese from Vermont Butter
and Cheese Company (Websterville, Vt.), marinated venison steaks from Yankee
Farmer's Market (Warner, N.H.), spinach from Doug Miller & Son (East
Dummerston, Vt.), and sweet cream ice cream from Walpole Creamery (Walpole,
N.H.).
"We're proud to bring attention to area farmers and the high-quality
products that their farms produce," says Tucker Rossiter, director of Dartmouth Dining Services (DDS).
"This stuff is fresh-some of it from only a few miles away—and that's good
for the College's sustainability efforts and good for the taste of the
food." On some days, produce picked from the fields in early morning is on
the salad bars and in entrees by lunchtime.
The event highlighted the success of Dartmouth's three-year partnership with
Vital
Communities' Valley Food and Farm (VF&F) program, which was launched by
a grant from Northeast Sustainable
Agriculture and Education. Vital Communities is a nonprofit organization
that works with community members to foster the balance of cultural, economic,
and environmental life in the Upper Valley. "We have surpassed our goal of
building 10 new direct accounts, and now even more regional food comes from new
distributors," says Lisa Johnson, director of VF&F.
In 2006, the College purchased more than $260,000 worth of food from New
Hampshire and Vermont farms, up from $231,000 in 2004. Ten years ago, the
amount of food (other than milk) that Dartmouth purchased from area farms was
close to zero, according to David Newlove, associate director of DDS.
"We've come a long way," he says. The number of farms and area
distributors that Dartmouth works with has also increased, from 8 in 2004 to 23
in 2006.
Jesse Laflamme, a farmer for Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs in Monroe, N.H.,
has supplied Dartmouth with all of its eggs with shells (to be fried or hard
boiled) for the past year and a half. "Dartmouth is a great
customer," he says. "We're very proud of our relationship."
Laflamme was one of seven farmers at the event who shared information about
their products with students as they entered Homeplate dining hall.
From left: Siri Raasch '10, Geoff Holman '10, Adam Merber '10, and Scott Baker
'10 dish up some tomatoes from Thetford, Vt., and fresh mozzarella from
Bennington, Vt., during the Farm to Dartmouth Food Expo on May 17. (Photo by
Joseph Mehling '69)
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For his meal, Geoff Holman '10 selected sliced tomato (Thetford, Vt.) and
fresh mozzarella (Bennington Vt.), fiddlehead ferns (Springfield, Vt.) with
orange and champagne vinaigrette, roast sirloin Texas style (Freeport, Maine),
and orzo with shiitake mushrooms and garlic-cheddar (Grafton, Vt.). "This
is amazing," said Holman. "It's a great idea to support local farms.
And it tastes delicious."
By STEVEN J. SMITH
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