Food
written by: Rebecca Anderson, Victor Bellande, Hannah Carmalt, Alisa Moffat, Sarah Rowan
Bruff Commons
(Information provided by Brian Foster, General Manager of Food Services.
Approximate numbers of meals served daily at Bruff:
Fall Spring
Breakfast - 600 Breakfast - 300
Lunch - 900 Lunch - 650
Dinner - 1100 Dinner - 800
Total - 2600 Total - 1750
Bruff Commons is run by the Marriot Corporation and the food is supplied from states in the southern region of the United States, especially Louisiana and Florida. The exception is the meat which comes from the Midwest. The meat served at Bruff is of the highest grade, all coming from the same location. Marriot does not purchase any organically grown food.
Food selection is based on a three week cycle. The company has a menu book which provides six options for each day from which the Bruff manager chooses. There is currently a computer comment system and an Internet service is being set up for students to use to express their opinions of the meals and suggestions. Also, the food selection is determined greatly by talking directly with students. This is done in an effort to continually decrease waste. The staff has efficient strategies for minimizing leftovers. For example, if they have more meat than is demanded for the hamburgers that day, it is put into the spaghetti sauce. Marriot serves one vegetarian meal in the hot line each day, but also provides vegetarian alternatives in the other lines. The manager plans to increase the number of vegetarian meals served but must cater to public demand. No effort to incorporate vegan meals into the menu has been made. Foster says that Marriot is unwilling to cook vegan meals because they are too difficult to make and there is not enough demand for them.
The staff at Bruff has a recycling bin into which they throw all of the cardboard boxes that the food is delivered in. The Bruff staff has never considered composting but, according to Foster, they are open to the idea - if it is established by someone else. Aside from small plastic bowls and spoons for frozen yogurt, Bruff uses virtually no disposable products.
Grade for Bruff: B
University Center Food Court
Aproximate number of meals served per week: 26,000, with three meal periods per day Monday through Friday and two meal periods per day on Saturday and Sunday.
The food court in the University Center is also under the management and contracts of Marriott Corporation. The food that is prepared and sold in the Food Court is supplied by three major distributors, with the majority of produce and dairy products coming from Louisiana and surrounding southern states, although some of the meat is also from the Midwest and other produce not grown in the South is shipped from elsewhere. Two distributors deliver from within Louisiana: Conco and Sysco, which provide for the hot food line, The Firehouse Grill, and Subway. The third distributor, PFS, delivers from Mississippi and supplies the food for Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Suppliers are chosen based on distance and ability to fill orders quickly. This criteria has caused the change from out of state suppliers in recent years, but not for environmental reasons. To their knowledge, nothing is produced organically.
Menus are prepared by a production manager and randomly selected to fill nutritional requirements, set up in ten day cycles. Recipes and meal ideas are prepared by the larger Marriott corporation based on research on regional schools and restaurants, and from responses on comment cards. A vegetarian program was initiated in 1995 and will be continually be expanding as interests and needs become more understood, although no surveys have been conducted on these interests or needs and vegan meals have not been considered. They consider their waste of food minimal as it is prepared in small batches as so not to cook too much, and amounts are based on average amounts of customers for that day of the week. However, some amounts of produce that are not used and go bad are thrown out, but they would be interested in starting a composting program, which is not currently being used and has not been researched. Leftover food is occasionally donated to local shelters and/or foodbanks on major holidays such as Thanksgiving, when extra amounts are generally cooked. Food use is considered to be quite efficient, although any damaged boxes, cans or such packaging material must be returned if damaged and so might be wasted by the supplier.
The packaging methods used within the UC consist mostly of styrofoam, and overall large amounts of waste are generated from plastic silverware, paper napkins and wax-coated paper cups. Efforts have been made to reduce waste, such as the use of reusable mugs and encouraging people to use china and silverware, and to educate employees to encourage this use. Efforts have also been made to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of styrofoam. Packaging for produce and canned foods is recycled, although larger recycling containers need to be procured.
In conclusion, the efforts of the UC to create an environmentally sound eating establishment have been average, with little waste of food, an expanding vegetarian program and the use of local, although not organic, food. The amount of waste created by packaging methods is excessive, however, and more effort will have to be made to find alternatives to current products.
Overall grade: C+
Alternatives
Buying From Organic Farmers:
Mountain Ark Trading Company is an organic wholesaler from Arkansas. Organic farming does not use any pesticides; instead farmers use natural organisms to control pests. Organic farming also uses natural fertilizers, instead of chemical ones. This eliminates foreign chemicals from entering our food and water supply. Mountain Ark Trading Company is free if the order is over $250.00 and offers a good price list.
Leftover Foods Disposal:
(Information provided by Bobby Burge)
Second Harvesters is a company that currently collects uncooked foods from food services, like Marriot, and distributes them to homeless shelters. Marriot could donate its left-overs to Second Harvesters. Second Harvester is also working on a project where they could collect already cooked foods. The only reason why Marriot does not want to do cooperate is because they do not have enough space to keep leftover foods at regulated temperatures. But Second Harvesters would be willing to come directly to Bruff to pick up leftovers at the moment the food is available, thus eliminating their space dilemna. Bruff has agreed to cooperate with Second Harvesters despite their small portions available for donation. Presently, Burge and Foster are discussing the details.
Composting:
Tulane University could benefit greatly by composting their food and yard wastes. Composting is a way to recycle wastes that would otherwise be shipped to a landfill at great cost to Tulane financially, and to all environmentally. Composting converts these wastes into a compost that can then be returned to the soil, where it provides nutrients, improves the structure of the soil, making it lighter and more absorbent, and prevents soil erosion. According to soil scientists, "southern soils simply do not accumulate organic matter and humus to the extent that northern ones do," so it is especially appropriate here in New Orleans.
Composting is a process of degradation. Microorganisms already inherent in the wastes are given an environment where they can feed on the dead organic tissue, reducing it to a fine black substance with a clean odor. These microorganisms need organic materials rich in carbon as energy sources and nitrogen rich materials as sources of the proteins that they need to grow and reproduce. They also need heat, oxygen and water.
Compostable wastes can be as much as 30% of the wastes produced, with food wastes consisting of about 8% of the waste stream. Things that Tulane could easily be composting are vegetable peelings and food wastes, like unused leftovers. Grass clippings from non-chemically treated lawns, tree clippings and fallen leaves could all be composted. One glitch is that live oak leaves are particularly resistant to decomposition, but in the quantities of composting Tulane could undertake, enough heat could probably be generated to speed up the process.
The first thing to do to compost would be to find an outdoor location that is accessible for loading and unloading but not necessarily in plain sight. There should be no smell in a properly attended compost heap, but the partially composed wastes are not necessarily attractive, and health regulations must be met. Three or more large bins would be needed, but these could very feasibly be made out of recycled pallets and covered with a plywood lid. The pallets would allow air to circulate around, and the moist consistency necessary could be had by occasionally leaving the bin open in the rain. The only further step necessary would be to transfer the compost every few weeks into the next bin. This allows the compost to be aerated and would keep the aerobic microorganisms working. This prevents the smell associated with anaerobic decomposition and keeps the process moving.
The best rule of thumb for composting is very simple. It is approximately two parts brown matter to one part green. Brown matter is dry leaves, sawdust (which could be harvested from the ship in the architecture building), tree, shrub, and grass clippings, or horse manure with bedding from a local stable. Green matter is well provided for by food wastes. These are then simply mixed together in the first bin, transferred to the second bin in a few weeks and transferred to the last bin until ready to use. Tulane could then use the compost on its own soils, or sell it to local gardeners, for both a financial and environmental profit.
Summary
The efforts of Tulane University and Marriott Food Services to reduce waste and to become more environmentally conscious are to be commended, although many changes still need to occur. It is good that the majority of purchasing is done locally, as this minimizes transportation costs and stimulates the ocal economy, although consideration should be given to organically grown products. Composting is a definite possibility for all food waste, and leftover foods could be donated to shelters daily. These are two alternatives which have not previously been considered and would benefit both the school and the community. The use of packaging is excessive, and should be reduced. Also, occasional vegan and more vegetarian meals would be preferable alternatives to the regularly served meals.
Overall grade: C+