Dining Halls Feature Community Garden Produce

Ever wonder how far the eggplant in that sauce has come before appearing on your dining hall plate? Sometimes, the answer is simply down the street. This fall, the Harvard Community Garden has teamed up with Harvard University Hospitality and Dining Services to serve its fresh, sustainable produce in dining halls across campus.

Each week, a new dining hall uses at least one ingredient from the garden as the focus of its "Chef's Table." So far this month, chefs have incorporated the Garden's turnips, eggplants, kale, chard, onions, and garlic into their weekly tastings.

In order to decide what veggies the Community Garden would give to HUHDS, co-founder Rebecca J. Cohen '12 and other member of the group used an empirical approach.

"We talked about what were growing and what we would have in enough quantity to supply the dining hall with," Cohen said.

HUHDS spokesperson Crista Martin discussed both the reception of the weekly Chef's Tables and the innovation of the chefs themselves.

"Chef's Tables are opportunities for our chefs and cooks to demonstrate their great skills and great creativity," Martin said.

She added that Chef's Table is just one of the many programs on campus that help promote food literacy.

"Every time people get to engage with food, agriculture, sustainability, and cooking in a new way, they gain a new appreciation," Martin said.

For now, with cold weather approaching, HUHDS' publicized plans for cooking with Garden produce extend only through the end of September, so be sure to sample the Harvard-grown lettuce at Currier next Thursday, September 29.