For Johns Hopkins
Dining Services, the mantra has been "do the right
thing."
In recent years, the Homewood campus food service has
implemented a string of initiatives
under the umbrella term Responsible Dining that are aimed
at promoting sustainability, healthy eating
and eco-friendly food options.
David Furhman, director of Dining Programs at the
Homewood campus, said that the initiative —
which has included measures from trayless cafeterias to the
use of dolphin-free tuna — unofficially
kicked off in summer 2006, when Johns Hopkins picked a new
dining provider.
Furhman said that at that time Johns Hopkins was able
to reinvent and re-energize dining
services, which now encompass six facilities: Charles
Street Market, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Fresh Food
Cafe, Levering Food Court, Nolan's at Charles Commons and
the Pura Vida Organic Coffeehouse. In
addition to emphasizing quality, convenience and variety,
Furhman said that the move to a new
provider, Aramark, also offered an opportunity to reflect
on "how" Dining Services does business.
Dining Services first abolished the use of plastic
bags at its retail locations, which now use
paper bags. It then outfitted water-saving devices on sinks
and faucets in all its dining facilities, and
installed energy-saving devices in its vending machines.
Furhman, who joined Johns Hopkins in 2004, said that
the goal has been to implement at least
one "responsible" measure each school term.
Recently, the Fresh Food Cafe and Nolan's went
trayless in order to reduce food waste and to
conserve the water and electricity that would have been
used to wash the trays.
Furhman said that by not using trays, Dining Services
will be able to save 66,000 gallons of
water per year and also reduce food waste by an estimated
75,000 pounds.
"We know from experience that when folks have trays,
they tend to pile stuff on and make
their eating choices at the table, not the counter," he
said. "It can be terribly wasteful."
One common thread in the Responsible Dining program
has been the focus on freshness. The
kitchen staff now cook with herbs grown in a seasonal herb
garden, planted in front of the Fresh Food
Cafe. And Dining Services buys its milk, bread and produce
from local vendors, such as cantaloupes
from Chestertown, Md., and milk from a dairy in
Pennsylvania.
By buying locally, Dining Services is able to reduce
its carbon footprint by reducing the amount
of fuel needed to transport food to campus.
"We want to provide fresher products for the students
and the community," Furhman said. "If
we can shorten the trip from the source, the fresher the
food is and the higher the quality we can
provide."
In terms of healthy eating, the Fresh Food Cafe is now
a trans fat-free facility, and all milk
that Dining Services uses and sells is free of antibiotics
and artificial growth hormones. And in
partnership with the JHU Student Health and Wellness
Center, Dining Services has implemented the
Hopkins Healthy Option Program to provide its customers
with nutritional information to help identify
healthier food choices at every meal.
Other measures include the use of cage-free eggs,
reusable bags, biodegradable and recyclable
to-go containers and dinnerware, dolphin-safe tuna and
seafood purchased following the
recommendations of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch
program.
"We have a much more responsible dining program now,
and we're more sustainable than we've
ever been," Furhman said. "It's all about setting a good
example. Quality is always our No. 1 priority,
but after that it's about what is the right thing to do. We
ask ourselves, Where can we have a more
positive impact on our campus, our community and the
world?"
What's next? Dining Services has recently partnered
with the Johns Hopkins Center for a
Livable Future to establish a "food footprint" program. The
program, which will premiere right after
Thanksgiving at the Fresh Food Cafe, will educate customers
through posters and a labeling system on
the amount of fuel and other resources used in the
production of each food item.
"Beef, for example, has a large food footprint,"
Furhman said. "Cattle require a lot of fuel and
food to raise. Poultry has less of a footprint and
vegetables, less still. We're not telling customers
what to eat, but we want them to see how their decisions
impact the world around them. In a large
way, that is what our efforts are all about. Our goal is to
provide our customers with information so
they can make intelligent choices."
For more information on all the Homewood dining
facilities and for current hours of operation,
go to
jhu.campusdish.com.
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