By Alex Kuffner, Providence Journal
September 26, 2007
On the menu at Roger Williams University recently: crab and squash bisque to start, cod with Portuguese dressing as the main course, and for dessert, baked apple custard.
Those were among the items offered at the university’s dining hall last Tuesday as part of the Eat Local Challenge, an event created to celebrate locally grown food. Not only were the dishes tasty, creative and, of course, nutritious, they were also made entirely from New England ingredients.
The bisque was made with blue crabmeat from Gloucester, Mass., butternut squash from Young’s Farm in Little Compton and heavy cream from Wright’s Farm in North Smithfield. The line-caught cod came from Massachusetts and was accompanied by chourico from Fall River and bread crumbs from a Portuguese bakery in Bristol. And, the custard used apples from Smithfield along with cream and butter from Wright’s Farm.
It was the third year that Roger Williams has participated in the challenge, an event created by Bon Appetit Management Co., which runs the university’s dining hall. Hundreds of other schools and businesses across the country also participated. The only rule was that kitchens had to buy ingredients from within a 150-mile radius.
“This is where we’re making a commitment to local farms,” said Paul Bulau, director of dining services at Roger Williams. “This isn’t a one-shot deal. This is the way we do business.”
Last week, that meant the dining hall chefs bought turkeys from Owens Farm, in Needham, Mass., for a turkey pot pie. For the pastry topping, they used flour from a Fall River grist mill. The maple syrup in the maple cream puffs came from Rhode Island. And the drinks were from Empire Soda, in Bristol.
The chefs even went fishing off Block Island the previous Friday for the challenge. Alas, they caught only two striped bass, which were cooked but available to only a few. Most students had to settle for the cod.
“We had great intentions,” said executive chef Robert Lavoie.
IT WAS a special event, but the school chefs try to use as many local ingredients as possible year round. The university buys all its milk — whole, skim and chocolate — from Rhody Fresh Milk, a local cooperative. Using nearly 1,000 gallons a week, the school is the cooperative’s biggest account.
In addition, Lavoie said the university buys as much as 80 percent of its produce from Mello’s Farm and Flower Center, in Portsmouth. That’s a lot of vegetables considering the school serves, on average, 1,700 people at each meal.
Henry Mello, who was at the school for last week’s Eat Local Challenge,, sells the university tomatoes, red, yellow and green peppers, eggplants and other produce he grows on 20 acres off Boyd’s Lane.
“We’ll decide our menus right off what Henry wants to share with us,” said executive sous-chef Donald Fitting.
Indeed, at the special lunch, a ratatouille was made entirely from Mello’s produce. A pasta sauce also used his tomatoes. And Mello grew the corn used in the corn chowder.
“There’s almost nothing you can’t find around here if you look for it,” said Andrew Costanzo, production manager at the dining hall.
Pointing to the peppers in the turkey pot pie, Lavoie proudly announced that they were picked half an hour before they were cooked.
“They know,” said Mello, “because I picked them myself.”