The Fellows with the Hobart Center for Foodservice Sustainability have announced a $5,000 grant to Bates College Dining Services for its comprehensive approach to food service sustainability, and have named Director of Dining Services Christine Schwartz as an HCFS Fellow.

Bates was judged as having the best sustainability program from among 13 entrants nationwide, which included K-12 schools and higher educational institutions, health care and hospitality facilities.

“Every year the level of participation and interest in sharing sustainable practices continues to expand,” says Rick Cartwright, vice president, ITW Food Equipment Group, and HCFS Fellow. Cartwright said that “Bates College stood out as a best-practice example showing a broad level of impact across many aspects of sustainability.”

Prompted by a generous gift from an anonymous donor, the opening of a new dining facility and the passion on the part of students to know more about the foods they were eating, Bates College undertook a yearlong initiative to explore connections between the dining program, food and the educational mission of the college itself. “Nourishing Body and Mind: Bates Contemplates Food” was launched in September 2008. Overall, Bates College decreased energy consumption and water use, reduced solid waste, and implemented a Farm-to-Fork program, expanding the purchasing of local, sustainable foods. From these initiatives, Bates College realized an annual saving totaling more than $80,000.

“Bates, like many colleges, believes that the environment must be taken into consideration when purchasing, creating, delivering and serving food products. And our dining program has integrated environmental stewardship into every decision regarding dining and food services,” says Schwartz, who will help select future operations for grant recognition while serving as an HCFS Fellow. “We are committed to continuing to develop the Bates Contemplates Food initiative and are grateful for the funds from the HCFS to assist us in doing so.”

Bates is the third recipient of the annual award. The winners in previous years were the University of California, Santa Cruz and Dickinson College.

The Associated Press on July 7, 2009, reports a tweak to the Guiding Stars program, a food star rating system used at Bates and in more than 1,400 Food Lion, Hannaford and Sweetbay supermarkets from Maine to Florida. The tweaks remove the penalty for small amounts of trans fat that appear naturally in some meat and dairy products.

The science-based Guiding Stars system rates foods with zero to three stars highlighting items according to good, better or best nutritional value, respectively. The program's revision is the first since being launched three years ago by the Hannaford supermarket chain.

"I can see the world through food," said Kirsten Walter '00, perhaps speaking for all the participants in a wide-ranging Bates discussion of food-related topics on March 16. "I can see all these different issues," she said, "and how to approach them and how to engage people with them."

Walter, director of the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, was one of four Maine-based Bates alumni, each an expert in food issues, who took part in a panel discussion sponsored by the College's Nourishing Body and Mind: Bates Contemplates Food initiative. (more...)

All-American Nordic skier Sylvan Ellefson '09 wears a St. Christopher medal for a bit of good luck to complement a rigorous training regimen.

While Sylvan Ellefson ’09 hasn’t banished sweets or Commons crispitos from his diet, he’s honed an understanding of what his body needs to perform at peak level.

(more...)

From Paul: Hey all. I am checking in from back home in NY. After my last class ended today (around 10:30 AM) I drove home for Thanksgiving Break. Although I’m a bit tired after the trip, I am looking forward to the week ahead which should be spent enjoying good times (and food) with family and friends.

Shervin Chambers '12 told a Creole Table gathering about the island of St. Lucia.

It feels like Mom's kitchen, but with a few more people around. The bustling, warm atmosphere and the smell of cooking make the small kitchen homey and relaxing. Lively music can barely be heard over the animated chatter.

After wandering around for several minutes, I have made my way into the kitchen. I'm attempting to dice red peppers and thinking that I probably should have spent less time with the takeout menu and more quality time in the kitchen with my mother learning how not to slice off a finger.

It's Friday afternoon, Oct. 3, and this is my first visit to Bates' Multicultural Center. The occasion is one of the center's Creole Tables — dinner gatherings whose presentations explore the variety of multiracial, multiethnic cultures called Creole. Staff, students and faculty get together to make dinner and discuss a particular nation and its Creole culture, building bridges between different groups within the college. (more...)

Gabe Clark '02, with his wife, Amanda Waterhouse Clark '02, raise grass-fed beef on their farm in North New Portland, Maine.

The Bates Contemplates Food initiative is a call for an informed examination of food choices. For many of us, these choices involve what foods to buy. A select few, though — such as the alumni on enumerated below — are choosing what foods to produce for the people who buy.

And while every food decision is a life decision, the choices made by people whose livings depend on producing food take place on planes different from the ones we occupy.

At one extreme, there's the importance of dirt. Dirt is furthest from your mind when you tuck into a sustainable, made-in-Maine dinner of grass-fed beef from Cold Spring Ranch and organic salad from Hackmatack Farm. (more...)

Portland Press Herald: Thanks to an anonymous $2.5 million gift, Bates College is refocusing its food-services mission on 'nourishing body and mind' and serving more organic and locally grown fare in the dining hall. [More...]

Michael Pollan, whose best-selling books scrutinizing the impacts of the "food-industrial complex" have fueled a nationwide fascination with Americans' food choices, speaks at Bates College at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27, in the College Chapel, College Street.

Titled "In Defense of Food: The Omnivore's Solution," Pollan's address is open to the public at no charge. A reception and book signing will follow. The annual Otis Lecture, the event is made possible by the Philip J. Otis Endowment at Bates.

One of the most prominent advocates for changing the culture of eating in the United States, Pollan has expressed a food philosophy stunning in its reach and simplicity: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

In "The Botany of Desire" (Random House, 2001), the influential "Omnivore’s Dilemma" (Penguin Press, 2006), and this year's "In Defense of Food" (Penguin Press, 2008), Pollan not only challenges us to ponder our diet, but reminds us of our dependence on the land for our sustenance. (more...)

Assistant chef Thoune Thongsavanh works at the vegetarian-vegan station in the new Commons.

Bates' purchase of local food is helping Maine farmers and food providers. The investment earnings from a $2.5 million donation earmarked for Dining Services is being used strictly to buy more locally grown natural and organic foods.

To capture that story, a video news team from WCSH-TV6, Portland's NBC affiliate, went first to Blackie's Farm Fresh Produce, a greengrocer in Auburn, and then to Bates, to interview Director of Dining Services Christine Schwartz. "They have great product, great services," said Schwartz of Blackie's." They have been very supportive of us, and we of them." (more...)