Jakob Fatica, executive chef of Homewood's Fresh Food Cafe; Michael Gueiss, Aramark executive chef; and Tim Elderkin, Aramark chef.

As part of its Homewood campus dining renaissance and its commitment to operating an ever- more responsible program, Johns Hopkins has planted its first culinary herb garden. JHU Dining will use the herbs it grows in its recipes at the Fresh Food Cafe, its premier campus dining facility.

"We've spent the past several years improving every aspect of our program, and creating a more responsible dining program is an important part of that," said Dave Furhman, director of dining programs. "It makes no sense to purchase what we can reasonably grow ourselves. And, by doing so, we provide our culinary team, and thus our guests, with the freshest possible herbs while reducing both food costs and the fuel required to transport herbs from elsewhere," he said.

A full array of culinary herbs--including flat-leaf parsley, tarragon, cilantro, basil, thyme, rosemary, chives, mint, dill and oregano--has been planted just outside the Fresh Food Cafe on the freshman quad.

Michael Gueiss, executive chef for Aramark Higher Education, which operates the Homewood campus dining program, said, "JHU continually challenges the culinary team to break new ground and operate out of our comfort zone. The herb garden is just another in a long list of examples of the 'win-wins' achieved when we think creatively and globally."

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