Sustainability in What You Eat

Eating local, fresh, and sustainable food on campus shouldn’t be hard. That’s why Dining Services opened up the Farms & Fields Project in Owens Food Court. Open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, the Farms & Fields Project serves farm-fresh, local, organic, and sustainable foods.

By choosing to eat at Farms and Fields, you support Dining Services’ commitment to sustainability. Many of our recipes feature local breads and bagels, locally produced meats and cheese, and locally grown fruits vegetables (some of which are grown right here on campus at the Dining Services Farm at Kentland Farm!). The majority of our foods are also organic.

Curious what’s being served this week? You can view the menu for the Farms & Fields Project here; the menu is updated daily by the Farms & Fields Project chef.

Defining Local

You might be wondering: what does local mean to us?

Whether you define “local” as 100 miles from home or made in the USA, it is important to know what local means to you when making food choices.  Whether for economic, environmental, social, or regional values (or all of the above), “local” can have different positive impacts at a multitude of scales.

At Virginia Tech, we want to strengthen our region’s economy and promote sound environmental practices while also helping small farmers.  The Farms and Fields Project is the chief supporter of local  food on campus. To reduce food miles and support the local economy, we strive to bring you food that is produced as close to Virginia Tech as possible, while still maintaining our commitment to quality products.

Virginia Tech Dining has created our own hierarchy of local purchasing:

1. State of Virginia
2. Locations within a 250 miles radius of Blacksburg, Virginia
3. States adjacent to Virginia: North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland.
4. The east coast
5. The United States

We believe that transparency is important to creating a more sustainable food system. If you want to know more about where your food comes from or how it is produced, feel free to contact us at sustainabledining@vt.edu.

You can check out some of our local vendors on the map below:

4 responses to “Sustainability in What You Eat”

  1. Haley Randolph | September 23, 2015 at 10:15 am | Reply

    Do you guys share recipes? I’d love to have the recipe for the butternut squash lasagna!

  2. asmandys93 | February 17, 2016 at 10:26 am | Reply

    Have you guys ever thought about making the paninis/sandwiches with gluten free bread? That would be awesome 🙂

    • rtcarver | February 19, 2016 at 3:00 pm | Reply

      We don’t have a gluten free panini press to use for this, but you can always ask for gluten free bread, which we have in stock, and we can use that bread to make your panini. It would not be a completely gluten free meal though because of the cross contamination on the panini press.

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