YALE SUSTAINABLE FOOD PROJECT
REPORT CARD
NOVEMBER 2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MISSION STATEMENT AND PURCHASING GUIDELINES
THE REPORT CARD AND ITS RATINGS
DAIRY
FISH AND MEAT
PRODUCE
BREAD
COFFEE, TEA, AND SWEETS
GROCERIES
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MISSION STATEMENT
The Yale Sustainable Food Project is a joint endeavor of Yale University Dining Services, students, faculty, and administrators. It
is designed to nourish a culture in which the interwoven pleasures of growing, cooking, and sharing food become an integral
part of each student’s experience at Yale.
Yale University Dining Services hopes to foster working relationships with local farmers who actively promote the lasting vitality
of soil, seed, and ecosystem; ranchers who care for and feed their livestock using humane and ecological methods; and food
distributors who can trace their products to responsible sources. Yale hopes this project will be a model for sustainable food
service programs and food-based curricula for institutions around the world.
PURCHASING GUIDELINES
The Yale Sustainable Food Project believes good food depends on authentic ingredients, grown by local farmers, simply
prepared, eaten in season. We prioritize purchasing local food, in season, from farmers, ranchers, and purveyors practicing
sustainable methods. We also prioritize purchasing from small, family owned farms and businesses.
REPORT CARD RATINGS
The report card is meant to be a dynamic document, that acts both as a guide to our purveyors and a tool for improving our
purveyors. It should be updated constantly, so that we are continually refining our list of purveyors to meet our purchasing
guidelines. Someday, all of the products should earn the rank of excellent.
UNSATISFACTORY
: does not meet any of our guidelines
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT:
SATISFACTORY:
GOOD:
meets some of our guidelines; for example, is local, but not organic
meets more guidelines, but does not fully satisfy us
meets our guidelines, is local, organic, and of a dependable quality
EXCELLENT:
a farmer or purveyor we are particularly proud to work with
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DAIRY
ITEM
cheeses: fontina, gruyere, monteray jack,
swiss
cheese: mozzarella, ricotta
cheese: parmigiano-reggiano
cheese: cheddar
cheese: feta
milk, cheese, butter, eggs
yogurt
yogurt
crème fraiche
PURVEYOR
LOCATION
various
Calabro
various
Cabot
Sankow's Beaver Brook Farm
Organic Valley
Sankow's Beaver Brook Farm
Stonyfield Farm
Vermont Butter & Cheese Co.
Hamden, CT
Old Lyme, CT
northeast
Old Lyme, CT
Londonderry, NH
Websterville, VT
STATUS
GRADE
conventional
unsatisfactory
organic
conventional
conventional
grass-fed, all natural
organic - certified
grass-fed, all natural
organic
conventional
excellent
unsatisfactory
satisfactory
excellent
good
excellent
good
satisfactory
-
Finding local, organic cheese is a challenge. (Organic Valley cheese does not meet our quality standards.) John Turenne has
established a contact with Calabro cheese, in nearby Hamden, CT. We will begin using their mozzarella and ricotta—made
with organic milk from Connecticut—in Berkeley and in approved expansion recipes.
-
Sankow’s Beavear Brook Farm yogurt is excellent: rich, creamy, and tangy. Sankow’s yogurt is used at Berkeley College; all
other colleges use Stonyfield Farm’s organic yogurt.
-
Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farm feta cheese is good. On occasion we use their cow-milk cheeses, but we have found their
quality to be inconsistent.
-
We are now serving organic milk in all o the colleges. Chuck Bennett worked with Organic Valley to begin providing milk in
5 gallon bags, instead of retail containers (as was used at Berkeley in the 2003-2004 academic year), so that we could serve
organic milk while minimizing waste from packaging.
-
Organic Valley eggs are coming from Pennsylvania and New York. We would like to find a local purveyor for organic eggs.
Quantity is a challenge: Berkeley uses 60 dozen eggs in a single brunch.
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FISH AND MEATS
ITEM
PURVEYOR
LOCATION
STATUS
GRADE
beef
chicken and turkey
clams
fish
lamb
pancetta, prosciutto
pork
New England Livestock Alliance
Murray's All Natural
Stafford Springs, CT
So. Fallsburg, NY
Rhode Island
grass-fed, all natural
all natural
conventional
conventional
organic
conventional
all natural
excellent
needs improvement
satisfactory
needs improvement
good
unsatisfactory
needs improvement
various
Sankow's Beaver Brook Farm
Old Lyme, CT
duBreton Farms
Quebec, Canada
-
NELA is a network of Connecticut and Massachusetts farmers, raising Devon cows with strict guidelines about humane
treatment, access to pasture, and no hormones or routine antibiotics. NELA has an independent slaughterhouse. This is an
improvement on Wolfe’s Neck farm because the beef is grass (rather than grain) finished and the supply routes are more
direct, and therefore more ecological.
-
We do not think Murray’s All Natural chicken is good enough. We are looking for chicken that has regular access to the
outdoors. Joel Salatin has offered some help in thinking about this.
-
A limited amount of seafood is served at Berkeley. The seafood that is served appears on the Seafood Watch’s “green” list,
and John Turenne is seeking out a purveyor of sustainable seafood in New England.
-
We would like to begin working with a local, organic pork producer.
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PRODUCE
ITEM
PURVEYOR
LOCATION
STATUS
GRADE
alliums: leeks
alliums: red, yellow onions
alliums: scallions, shallots, garlic
Twin Oaks Farm
Young's Family Farm
Various
Hadley, MA
Granby, CT
conventional
conventional
conventional
needs improvement
needs improvement
unsatisfactory
Carrots, eggplant, tomatoes, squash,
Swiss chard, turnips
fruit: apples, pears
fruit: bananas
fruit: oranges
greens: arugula, mesclun, kale
greens: arugula, spinach
herbs: basil, chives, cilantro
herbs: rosemary, sage, parsley, oregano,
thyme
mushrooms: button, shitake
other: fennel, ginger, lemon
potatoes: red
potatoes: Yukon gold
Old Maids Farm
So Glastonbury, CT
organic
excellent
High Hill Orchards
Turbana - Uniban Coop
Meriden, CT
Columbia
Starlight Gardens
Earthbound Farms and others
Old Maids Farm
Durham, CT
IPM
organic, fair trade
conventional
organic
organic
organic
excellent
excellent
unsatisfactory
good
unsatisfactory
excellent
conventional
unsatisfactory
organic
conventional
conventional
organic
good
unsatisfactory
needs improvement
excellent
-
-
-
-
So Glastonbury, CT
Various
Franklin Farms
Various
Groutin Farm
Solar One Farm
Franklin, CT
Farmington, CT
Bethlehem, CT
During the first week of December, Melina, John Turenne, and Chuck Bennett plan to meet with a number of organic
farmers from Connecticut to plan for the upcoming season. We want planting fields and planning menus to be a
collaborative process. In the next year, we want to increase production of crops like scallions, shallots, arugula, broccoli
Brussels sprouts, spinach, and watercress because there is almost no organic, regional production of these items currently.
We are very dissatisfied with serving Earthbound Farm greens. Right now, there is only one farmer, David Zemelsky at
Starlight Gardens, providing organic greens. We are meeting with local producers, and asking them to attend training with
Eliot Colman on growing greens at Stone Barns so that we can create a network of farmers whose methods we believe in.
Garlic in Berkeley is coming from Johnny Lugg Farm, an organic farm in Colebrook, CT. After conversations with John
Turenne and Josh, John Frierson (the farmer) picked two, easily-peeled varieties for Berkeley. Garlic in the expansion
recipes is conventional and needs to be changed immediately.
After Thanksgiving, we will begin working with Riverbank Farm, a certified organic farm in Roxbury, CT for more of our
potatoes, for Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and kale.
This fall, all the dining halls served Wayne Young’s ecologically grown apples and pears. Students organizing the second
annual Harvest Festival worked with Marjolaine Bakery in New Haven to make pies from Wayne’s apples.
Fair Trade, organic bananas are being served in every single Yale dining hall, every single day.
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BREADS
ITEM
PURVEYOR
LOCATION
STATUS
GRADE
pizza dough
ciabatta
Rye
sliced bread
Lupi/Marchigiano Bakery
Lupi/Marchigiano Bakery
Lupi/Marchigiano Bakery
Vermont Bread Company
New Haven, CT
New Haven, CT
New Haven, CT
Brattleboro, VT
organic
organic
conventional
organic
satisfactory
unsatisfactory
unsatisfactory
satisfactory
-
We talked with Lupi-Marchigiano, the Yale University Dining Services bread purveyor, about making a ciabatta style roll and loaf with organic flour
for Berkeley and for the approved expansion recipes. Josh worked extensively with Pete Lupi to get the crumb and texture right (even running down to
the bakery and rolling up his sleeves), but we do not think Lupi can bake the quality of bread we demand. We are working to find a better bread source.
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COFFEE, TEA, AND SWEETS
ITEM
PURVEYOR
LOCATION
STATUS
GRADE
chocolate (for brownies)
granola: oats, raisins, almonds
honey
maple syrup
coffee
tea
Green & Black
The Bakery at Yale
Swords into Plowshares
River's Edge Sugar House
Equal Exchange
Tetley
London, UK
New Haven, CT
New Haven, CT
Ashford, CT
W Bridgewater, MA
organic, fair trade
organic
conventional
conventional
organic, fair trade
organic
excellent
good
good
satisfactory
excellent
satisfactory
-
Over the summer of 2004, Josh and Melina worked with the Bakery at Yale to perfect a dessert recipe that would meet the
Project’s criteria: simple, straightforward desserts made exclusively with organic ingredients and with real butter and eggs.
The bakers tested the brownie many times over, getting the input of students and sweet-lovers to guarantee a high-quality
result. Chuck Bennett secured organic, fair trade chocolate for the brownies.
-
The organic granola still proves to be incredibly popular with students. Because there are no organic, fair trade cashews
available, we removed cashews from the recipe, and increased the quantity of organic almonds.
-
The organic tea comes from Tetley. We would like to find a fair trade source.
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GROCERIES
ITEM
PURVEYOR
LOCATION
STATUS
GRADE
beer: Wolaver's Dry Ale
green lentils
kosher salt
Louisiana Hot Sauce
Major Grey Chutney
mayonnaise
nuts: almonds
nuts: pine nuts, pisatchios
olive oil extra virgin
olive oil extra virgin
pasta: penne, gemelli, rotini, spaghetti
raisins
rice wine
spices: bay, cumin, nutmeg, peppercorn,
curry
Wolvaver's
Middlebury, VT
organic
organic
conventional
conventional
conventional
organic
organic
conventional
organic
conventional
organic
organic
conventional
good
satisfactory
satisfactory
unsatisfactoroy
unsatisfactory
satisfactory
good
unsatisfactory
satisfactory
satisfactory
satisfactory
satisfactory
needs improvement
organic
satisfactory
conventional
unsatisfactory
organic ingredients
conventional
organic
organic
organic
organic
conventional
organic
organic
conventional
satisfactory
unsatisfactory
satisfactory
satisfactory
good
satisfactory
satisfactory
satisfactory
satisfactory
needs improvement
spices: fennel seed, tumeric, cayenne,
crushed red pepper, cloves
mustard: stoneground
sugar: brown, dark
sugar: raw
tamari
tomatoes: sauce
tomatoes: canned, diced
vinegar: red
vinegar: balsamic
vinegar: cider
wines and sherry
-
Diamond
Spectrum
Big Tree Organic
Turlock, CA
Fondo de Toscana
Jansel Valley
Annie's Homegrown
Victor
Wakefield, MA
Madera, CA
Frontier Culinary Spices
Westbrae Natural
Domino
Florida Crystals
Spectrum
Palmieri's
Muir Glen
Jansel Valley
Spectrum
Spectrum
Uniondale, NY
New Haven, CT
Palmieri’s tomato sauce won a blind tasting. We asked Pat Palmieri, the head of a family-owned tomato sauce processor in New Haven, to begin using
organic processed tomatoes and local, organic basil (from Old Maids Farm) in his sauce. His sauce is now being served in all the dining halls, all the
time—except at Berkeley, where cooks make their own sauce.
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GROCERIES
-
Wherever an organic or all natural spice is available, a sourcing change needs to be made so that spices are coming from Frontier Culinary Spices.
In some places, we believe recipe changes need to be made so that we are better meeting our mission: for example, the spinach salad with pine nuts and
raisins is good, but would taste equally good and better meet our purchasing guidelines if prepared with organic almonds and local, organic cranberries.
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OUR PLAN
-
We are reviewing the report card and setting priorities so that we can improve upon each of our purveyors. We want to begin fostering relationships
with farmers and purveyors of which we are extremely proud in every area, and for each item to come from a source we believe in. We will be meeting
with farmers immediately so that more of our mesclun and our produce is coming from organic farmers in the region immediately around New Haven.
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