The Real Food Challenge is a national campaign aimed at encouraging healthy, fair and green food systems on campuses across the country by shifting the focus from industrial farms and companies to local, organic ones./Courtesy photo

Hungry for more

Food service providers, FLC students work hand-in-hand to foster ‘Real’ change

by Tracy Chamberlin

JusttheFacts What: Real Food Challenge Chow Down When: Thurs., Dec. 12; lunch served from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.; dinner served from 5-7 p.m. Where: San Juan Dining Hall in the Student Union at Fort Lewis College campus Tickets: Lunch price is a la carte pricing, dinner is all-you-can-eat at $8 per person. For more: www.realfoodchallenge.org or call 247-7091

This is the beginning – the starting line for an idea that could move out of the Southwest, spread across the U.S. and into the global market.

And, it all happens at 11 a.m. Thurs., Dec. 12, at the San Juan Dining Hall at Fort Lewis College.

The event is called the “Real Food Challenge Chow Down.” It’s part of a national campaign aimed at encouraging healthy, fair and green food systems on campuses across the country by shifting the focus from industrial farms and companies to local, organic ones.

Fort Lewis College is on the front lines of this campaign, called the Real Food Challenge, becoming the first school in the Southwest to officially commit to it and one of only 17 nationwide.

So, Durango finds itself on the national stage for stepping up to the plate – literally.

Fort Lewis staff, the school’s Environmental Center and the food service provider Sodexo are working together to host the event with  lunch and dinner menu items found exclusively in the Durango area.

Although the meal is served on campus, it’s open to the public. Anyone can taste the dishes created from a locally-based, healthy food system.

The ultimate goal of the challenge is to shift $1 billion of the money universities currently spend on food away from industrial farms and toward small-scale ones with more sustainable operations.

In order to reach that goal, the campaign is asking participating universities and colleges like FLC to move 20 percent of their budgets from industrial to locally-based and organic food suppliers.

“Schools have the opportunity to create and influence an alternative food system based on available resources, their location and their population,” said FLC student Patricia Yazzie, the Real Food Challenge Student Team co-coordinator.

After a successful event in late October, FLC and Sodexo plan to host a Chow Down each month during the school year.

“These meals have been critical not only for education, but for stepping into the processes for buying, preparing and serving real food,” said fellow student coordinator Melanie Weber. “The meals have given us a chance for trial and error for the future production we hope to see.”

So what qualifies a food as “real?”

First, there’s a list of ingredients that automatically disqualifies an item, like high fructose corn syrup, yellow dye No. 5 and genetically modified organisms.

If it moves past this stage, it’s examined to see if it meets one or more of four specific criteria: local and community-based; fair; ecologically sound; and humane.

Locally based means the food can be traced to nearby sources. The other three categories come with approved certifications. For example, an item is considered fair if it’s Fair Trade Certified by the Fair Labeling Organization or Fair Trade USA. It’s considered ecologically sound if it’s certified USDA Organic, and considered humane if it’s Animal Welfare Approved by the Animal Welfare Institute.

Students at Fort Lewis College audited the Sodexo budget in the fall of 2012 to find out what percentage was already considered “real” under these guidelines.

Guess who’s coming to dinner? Here’s a peak at some of the items and local producers that are on the menu for the Chow Down: - Adobe House Farm salad and beets with Fizz Chocolate Zuberfizz soda dressing - Steamworks Stout-marinated top round - San Juan Mustard crusted and pulled free range chicken with choice of O’Hara’s jams and jellies - Veggie manicotti with Adobe House Farm vegetables and James Ranch cheese (pasta made from James Ranch eggs and organic wheat flour)

They looked at a five-week time period and concluded that Sodexo was already spending 4.7 percent of its budget on real foods, which means it was almost a quarter of the way toward the 20 percent goal.

Kevin Gutierrez, general manager for Sodexo at Fort Lewis College, said the company is committed to the Real Food Challenge and reaching that 20 percent threshold.

He added that Sodexo attempts to find local vendors for its food service operations across the country, not just here in Durango. “I think it’s important to partner with the community,” he added.

And, it’s not just coast to coast, but a change that Pedro Ulibarri, executive chef for Sodexo at Fort Lewis, sees expanding into the global market.

Especially when it comes to food, Ulibarri said this is just the beginning of local products taking hold. The Albuquerque native spent time in Wisconsin working with Growing Power, a similar campaign and composting project.

Now that he’s returned to the Southwest, Ulibarri has brought that experience as well as his culinary knowledge  with him.

“Having this champion sitting in  4 this position is critical,” Rachel Landis, coordinator for the Fort Lewis College Environmental Center, said of Ulibarri.

The relationship between the Environmental Center, the students, Sodexo and local producers is key to the success of the Real Food Program and overcoming the challenges they’ll face shifting from today’s industrial food service model to the Real Food model.

The greatest of those challenges is volume.

Sodexo provides an average of 20,000 meals each week to the Fort Lewis community. A small, local farm would likely face its own challenges attempting to grow enough beets and broccoli for that kind of supply.

Unless they have a plan.

Sodexo will need to work with local growers by requesting specific items ahead of the planting season as well as finding a way to get the necessary volume from a host of growers.

“It’s always going to be a partnership,” Ulibarri said. “It’s always going to be a relationship.”

They must also work within the boundaries of the local climate. For example, Durango is brimming with apples in the fall but not so much in mid-February.

“The farmers growing season is always different from the school year,” Ulibarri said.

Therefore, Sodexo needs to work with local growers to provide as much goods as needed when the season is just right, but also adapt when it is not.

One way for them to adapt in the off-season is by looking to the other categories that the Real Food Challenge encourages like ecologically sound and humane. By finding products that meet those standards, Sodexo and Fort Lewis can still reach the 20-percent goal.

“One challenge I personally see is the notion that there is a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Yazzie.

Sodexo employees serve up some locally-based foods at the Real Food Challenge Chow Down on Oct. 24. The successful event led to the monthly meals they’ll host throughout this year./ Courtesy photo

Like the local climate, each community is unique and deals with its own issues. Yazzie noted the water shortages the West could see in the future. The Real Food model could help provide adaptable solutions for those types of concerns, she said, something an industrial model could not.

Additional hurdles Fort Lewis and Sodexo need to overcome include cost, production and insurance.

Currently, Sodexo is paying retail prices for the local produce it brings to Fort Lewis. Purchasing those same items wholesale and mass-produced is far cheaper.

“One of our most important concerns about the Real Food Challenge is making sure the purchases are within Sodexo’s budget, while not dramatically raising the price of food for the students,” said Weber. “A major pillar of the Real Food Challenge is making sure that real food is not a privilege but available to all demographics.”

Landis said Sodexo and Fort Lewis are currently working together to identify strategic ways to reduce those costs.

This is one of many issues the students and staff are working on together. Both Ulibarri and Gutierrez commented on the benefits of working with the Environmental Center and students, noting their professionalism and passion for the issue.

“I’m quite impressed with this generation,” Ulibarri said. “They’re challenging us ... pushing us forward and making us accountable.”

The students help specifically by providing education and outreach opportunities, as well as conducting research and building relationships with local growers.

For the students, it’s also a win. At the start of their chosen careers, they can get hands-on, professional experience while creating real change in their communities.

After all, for everyone involved with the Real Food program, this is just the beginning.