Food

Chef Ron DeSantis, Director of Culinary Excellence and Quality Assurance for Yale Dining, presenting about jackfruit and other underutilized edible plants.  This week, the 23rd annual Tastes of the World Chef Culinary Conference hosted by UMass Dining has returned! The theme of this year’s conference is The Power of Food, which encompass all aspects of […]

UMass Student Farm chickens.  On February 16, 2017 several UMass Auxiliary staff attended a poultry forum in Grafton, MA hosted by the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative. In attendance were several Massachusetts poultry farmers and representatives from a variety of organizations such as MDAR, the USDA, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), and Massachusetts Farm to

Need a last minute gift? Want to support your local farmers and show your loved ones that you care? Look no further than the UMass Fresh Local Breakfast Basket!  Every carefully crafted basket contains everything you need for a special, delicious holiday breakfast you can feel good about.   We hand-picked products we believe in to

Craving something green as the days get cooler ? Look no further than UMass Fresh. Grab your own UMass Fresh Box this Friday, November 4th, at The UMass Student Farmers’ Market on Goodell Lawn from 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM.  What is UMass Fresh?   When you purchase a UMass Fresh box, you are getting a

Looking to spice up your weeknight dinner plans? Look no further than this UMass Student Farmers’ Market Yaki-Ramen recipe perfected by chefs here at UMass Dining. This delicious recipe features ultra local, organic, student grown produce from the UMass Student Farm. You can get your hands on this ultra-fresh produce every Friday this semester until

What’s better than some hearty stew on a cool, crisp autumn evening? Our head chefs at UMass Dining developed a satisfying, healthy, local and easy recipe for an Autumn Stew featuring produce from the UMass Student Farm and the UMass Permaculture Gardens, as well as gleaned butternut squash from Plainville Farm of Hadley, MA:  UMass

Last week, our staff visited Warm Colors Apiary to discuss how to strengthen the connection between the apiary and surrounding communities. The event was organized by CISA, a non-profit dedicated to improving the viability of local agriculture by bridging the gap between farms and local consumers.  The visit included a tour of the apiary as well

Last week, the UMass Dining team met with Andy Kendall, Executive Director of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation regarding the Local, Healthy UMass Food System Initiative. The meeting was held to discuss the progress being made at UMass Dining to leverage broader institutional change in order to create a more resilient New England food system.  The

A diet full of healthy, nutritious, and fresh foods is a huge part of the key to success for children in K-12 public schools, but when we think about what public schools actually serve students, the food is usually the opposite – unhealthy, nutrient deficient, and highly processed.  93% of students who attend the Stefanik Elementary

As UMass Dining sources from more local meat farms, our staff has increased its ability to butcher on site. While processing meat on site requires more time and labor, it also allows the chefs to get the cuts they need to be creative with their dishes.  For example, Hampshire Dining Commons grinds its own beef, sourced

University of Massachusetts Amherst Auxiliary Enterprises has been awarded a $3,500 grant from the Women for UMass Amherst Fund (WFUM) that will be used for a permaculture garden project at Stefanik Elementary School in Chicopee.   The award will fund maintenance for the garden and provide educational programming both at the garden and in classrooms at

One goal of the Local, Healthy UMass Food System Initiative is to increase the amount of lean animal proteins purchased locally, which would yield a plethora of benefits from plate to farm to region:  In pursuit of this goal, our team has begun to research the meat farms in New England, beginning with poultry farms.

With common lows of 10 degrees Fahrenheit during Massachusetts winters, it’s hard to believe that people can eat New England regional foods from November to April. When a foot or two of snow separates farmers from the soil, that possibility seems to shrink even further. Can we eat locally and seasonally right through our frigid

Gleaning is a term originating from biblical times used to describe the act of redistributing the surplus of a harvest. In doing this, volunteers collect leftover crops from farmers fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it may not be economically profitable to harvest.  Two weeks ago, the UMass Permaculture Initiative

“A national event. Real food, just food.”  Every October 24th, thousands of Food Day events are held across the nation, but why? What is Food Day, anyway, and why does it bring so many people together?  Just 5 years ago, there was no such thing as a national “Food Day” in America – no food labor conferences,