Pat Raynard, general manager of food service provider Bon Appetit at Hamilton, was a panelist at a seminar "Colleges Buying Local: A Farm To Fork Initiative" on April 3 at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Raynard participated in the panel "Adventures in Buying Local: Four Campuses Share Their Experiences."
Other panelists included Jim Liebow, Bon Appetit general manager at St. John Fisher College, and representatives from Aramark at Vassar College and the Yale Sustainable Food Project. The conference was organized by the office of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities and The Culinary Institute of America.
Bon Appetit has been a leader in the buy food locally campaign. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., it began promoting an "Eat Local Challenge" about two years ago, urging its locations to serve lunch on a given day with all products purchased within a 150-mile radius.
Hamilton College location easily took on the challenge, says Raynard. In the years since, Raynard has added local products to many of the meals served at the college, purchasing meats, dairy products, vegretables and fruits from Central New York farmers.
The effort is a way to support local vendors and the local economy, but it also results in fresher, better tasting food in the college's dining halls, Raynard says.
