“It’s always the best meal of the week,” said Roots Café Volunteer Jamie Bruno ’14 after enjoying lasagna and a salad.
Sorry breakfast, as good as they are, syrupy pancakes just don’t stack up to the local, organic or Fair Trade lunches being served at Roots Café.
The weekly sustainable luncheon was started almost two years ago and has grown steadily. Roots Café now serves more than 200 people in the Massry Commons dining hall each week.
Students can use their meal plans to eat at Roots Café, but unlike the traditional college dining experience, they don’t have to wait in line for lunch. Volunteers serve plated meals – including a salad, entrée and dessert – to fellow students, faculty, staff and administrators.
“It’s just a nice change from the normal dining halls,” said Bruno.
The food is different, too.
All Roots Café meals fit into the “Real Food” model, so Sodexo Dining Services sources local, Fair Trade, ecologically sound or humanely harvested ingredients.
“I’m eating cake. But it’s organic, so I feel better about it,” said Roots Café Volunteer Lauren Kilkenny ’14. The senior biology major added that it feels good to support local farms and small businesses. “It helps build a stronger community,” Kilkenny said.
“I feel really proud to be a part of a community that not only has these ideas in theory about sustainability and about ethical sourcing and about supporting the local community, but really backs those values with their purchasing power and the decisions that they make,” said Real Food Advocate Alana Strassfield ’14.
Oh, and breakfast, now that the title of ‘most important meal’ has been taken, it’s okay to have sour grapes - as long as they’re organic.
