MUM students & staff enjoy all-organic, vegetarian, fresh-cooked meals everyday

If you want a healthy fresh-cooked meal, a college cafeteria isn’t the first place that comes to mind.

Anyone who’s subsisted on college cuisine for extended periods of time probably doesn’t consider those days a culinary high point. Heck, coupled with late-night pizza runs, a standard university diet is partly to blame for the infamous “freshman fifteen” (i.e. those extra 15 pounds that seemingly appear out of nowhere during your first year on campus).

Yet at MUM, students and staff enjoy all-organic, vegetarian, fresh-cooked meals daily. While many campuses are starting to offer healthier menu options, MUM is the first U.S. college to serve exclusively organic, vegetarian food in its dining hall (officially, Annapurna Dining Commons). It’s part of the university’s commitment to inner and outer sustainability (for the record, many students aren’t vegetarian).

Local ingredients are used whenever possible, including produce grown right on campus at MUM’s greenhouses and nearby organic farms. It’s not uncommon for food to be picked and served the same day. Milk, yogurt, and ice cream come from Radiance Dairy right here in Fairfield. Everything is made from scratch, and the kitchens participate in a composting program. Meals are also prepared according to Ayurvedic principles, an ancient science of health and natural medicine. Thanks to these efforts, the MUM dining hall was a finalist in the “Best Local Food” category of Iowa Source magazine’s annual restaurant contest.

As student enrollment has increased—MUM now serves over 1,600 meals per day—the university brought in Aladdin Food Management Services to handle operations. Aladdin has been so inspired by MUM’s program that the company decided to make organic food service its niche, leveraging its experience with MUM to extend organic offerings at other accounts. Food Management magazine wrote a good article about the collaboration.

“I’m happy this worked out, and frankly, MUM was the catalyst to make it happen,” said Jim McKee, Aladdin’s regional VP of operations. “MUM’s 100% organic program is 10 years ahead of where the rest of the world needs to be. It is the right thing to do, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”

Anyone is welcome to eat at the dining hall, and you’ll find people of all ages—not just students. It’s located upstairs in the new Argiro Student Center (the big building on 4th street that looks like a cruise ship). The walk-in price is $8 flat, though it’s less if you buy a multi-meal punch card. Lunch is served everyday from 11:45-1:30, and dinner from 6:30-8:00. There’s a pretty big line at lunch by about 12:15, so I recommend getting there at noon or after 12:30 (though you’re almost certain to be standing next to a nice, interesting person in the queue). You can also check the menu online before you come. Happy dining!

In case you haven’t picked up on the little nudge-nudge reminders from your sweetheart, Valentine’s Day is this Sunday.  Regardless of whether you subscribe to notions of roses, chocolates, or romantic love, this weekend presents a rare opportunity to dine out in Fairfield on a Sunday evening.

If staying around town is part of the plan, you’ve got options:

Revelations will be open for the occasion and offering a special menu.  Start off with creamy spinach artichoke dip or shrimp cocktail.  Salad options include fresh strawberry, walnut, and goat cheese salad or grapefruit, asiago, and pecan salad and the soup featured will be Greek tomato with couscous and feta.  For your main course, feast on seared chicken breast and mushroom marsala with whipped potatoes, carrots and green beans, seared Alaskan salmon with Moroccan couscous and green beans, grilled eggplant with local ricotta and zesty marinara with orzo pasta or Indian coconut chickpeas over basmati rice.  Satisfy your sweetheart’s sweet tooth with strawberry cheesecake, chocolate mousse or chocolate lovers’ cake.

At Vivo’s, in addition to the full menu, specials include clams oreganata as a starter and for the main course choose from gnocchi in gorgonzola cream sauce topped with herbed pistachios and steamed vegetables, braised tilapia with asparagus risotto, or rosemary chicken with kalamata olives, artichokes and capers with whipped potatoes.  Top it off with the triple chocolate cake dessert special.

More than one special friend to entertain? At Top of the Rock Grill you can enjoy a Valentine’s day menu all weekend long– specials include oriental scallops bruschetta as a starter and entrees of rosemary rack of lamb with potatoes, crab stuffed shrimp over basmati rice, and lobster ravioli in sherry sauce. Heart shaped apple pie headlines the dessert menu.

Café Dodici in Washington is offering specials all weekend as well– Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening as well as a Sunday brunch.  In addition to their regular menu offerings, special entrees include meatloaf wellington, blackened orange roughy, buffalo rib eye, vegetable pot pourri, Alaskan salmon, seafood cannelloni, and butternut squash ravioli.

If you’re prepared to venture a bit further and perhaps try something new.  I highly recommend taking a drive down to Bistro 322 in Burlington.  Featuring a blend of French inspired cuisine with a touch of Asian influence, termed “comfort cuisine,” Bistro 322 is a refreshing and romantic dining experience.  They also feature a variety of wine flights and fun specialty drinks.

There’s still time, make your reservations now! Invite your friends, lovers or neighbors. Who says food isn’t love!

Francis and Susan Thicke, owners of local Radiance Dairy Farm, will be honored this December with the Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture. The award will be presented on December 5th at the 2009 Iowa Organic Conference in Ames.

The Thickes will be the sixth recipients of the Spencer Award, originally established in 2001 to recognize significant contributions to the advancement of practices that make agriculture sustainable and family farms secure for the future.

The owners of a Jefferson County organic dairy farm and on-farm processing plant are the 2009 recipients of the annual Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture. Francis and Susan Thicke, who own and operate Radiance Dairy near Fairfield, will receive the honor December 5 at the 2009 Iowa Organic Conference in Ames.

The Thickes manage 236 acres where 60 paddocks are used to feed their herd of 80 Jersey milk cows. The herd is rotationally grazed, moving to a new paddock twice daily. In their on-farm processing plant, they produce skim, lowfat and whole milk, as well as yogurt and cheese, all of which is sold locally.

Until they bought the farm in 1996, the land was used for corn and soybean production. They have installed a solar-powered system to supply water from a pond to each paddock. The pond also has a geothermally-heated water tank for use in the winter.

The Thickes will be the sixth recipients of the Spencer Award, established in 2002 to honor farmers, educators or researchers who have made a significant contribution toward the stability of mainstream family farms in the state. The award includes a $1,000 stipend and is one of Iowa’s largest awards in sustainable agriculture.

Elisabet Humble, local foods coordinator for Hometown Harvest of Southeast Iowa, nominated the Thickes for the award, noting that their farm has been the site of many tours. €œThe knowledge Francis brings to visitors on his farm helps them understand the importance of sustainable agriculture and how it works with ecology,€ Humble said. €œI consider him one of the greater assets to our community €¦ very passionate in his efforts to create sustainability in our food systems.€ — Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Francis Thicke is currently running for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, learn more at his campaign website.

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Care2.com, the popular web destination for all things green living, animal welfare,  human rights and more, has partnered with the Local Harvest directory website of all local farms, farmers markets and other local food sources, to sponsor a contest for Farmer’s Markets!  The winning market gets $5,000 and every week a market is drawn at random to win $250.

The Fairfield Farmer’s Market is in the running with 58 votes so far.  I’m sure there are quite a lot of improvements the Farmer’s Market could make with that $5,000 if they won.  The link below should take you to the voting page where you enter some basic info and a comment about why you love the Farmer’s Market.  (You can comment anonymously if you wish.)  It only takes a minute, and every vote counts!  Plus it’s neat to see what everyone else has been saying about the Farmer’s Market.

http://www.care2.com/farmersmarket/4150/?refer=20169.13.1245536068.070435

If for some reason the link doesn’t work either by clicking or copy and paste, you can always go to the home page and look up the Fairfield Farmer’s Market.

After you’ve voted – spread the news!  The voting site has some easy buttons to post links back to the contest to Facebook, Twitter, etc.  At the time of this writing, the leading market is Durham, NC with 260 votes, so we’ve got a ways to go to catch up!

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