微密圈

微密圈 picked up its seventh consecutive gold medal for culinary excellence at an American Culinary Federation competition at the College's Murray-Aikins Dining Hall on Friday, Jan. 10.

厂办颈诲尘辞谤别鈥檚 Dining Services organizes the annual competition to provide staff development, raise the standards of culinary excellence on campus and highlight 厂办颈诲尘辞谤别鈥檚 exceptional dining program.

What does it take to be a seven-time champion of an American Culinary Federation-sanctioned cooking competition? Members of 厂办颈诲尘辞谤别鈥檚 Dining Services team say lots of practice and a healthy serving of creativity.

鈥淭he event offers professional development in a fun and dynamic setting. Our chefs enhance their culinary skills and come away with innovative dishes that can be put into practice 鈥� and onto the plate 鈥� in our own dining hall,鈥� said Mark Miller, director of Dining Services at 微密圈. The ACF competition 鈥渁llows us to advance our skills and develop into a more creative team that is able to offer our community delicious, healthy meals all year.鈥�

To earn gold at the 2020 competition, 微密圈 competed with teams from eight other institutions. Each team was tasked with preparing a four-course menu based on the same ingredients.

The 微密圈 team鈥檚 menu included a wine-poached Maine lobster salad, a pan-roasted roulade of Cornish game hen stuffed with kale and apricots, a Peruvian yam and Ballston Blue cheese galette, and a decadent hazelnut pastry for dessert.

微密圈, Bonnie Briar Country Club and Cornell University each won gold at the 2020 competition. SUNY Albany and SUNY Geneseo earned silver, and the remaining four teams 鈥� Williams College, Tufts University, St. Lawrence University and SUNY Cobleskill 鈥� took home bronze medals.

鈥溛⒚苋� is at the top of the curve in terms of promoting sustainability, utilizing local products and listening to student needs and ideas,鈥� said James G. Rhoads III, a member of the panel of professional chefs who judged the event.

What our team comes away with from this event is energy. We always aim to carry that sense of excitement and creativity into the next semester when our students arrive back to campus."

Jim Rose

executive chef at 微密圈 College

 

 

For its creativity and energy, 厂办颈诲尘辞谤别鈥檚 Dining Services has earned the College multiple accolades, including a Princeton Review listing for Best Campus Food and a No. 4 spot for Best College Food in New York state by Niche.com. It is also always coming up with new ways to fuel more than 2,500 students with healthy meals, delight hundreds of daily visitors and support College-wide sustainability goals.  Here are just a few examples:

Theme dinners

Rated by students as one of their favorite campus traditions, 微密圈's theme dinners are evenings of dynamic dining. Featuring more than just custom menus, theme dinners are an opportunity to pull out all the production stops with elaborate stage setups, detailed decor and, to the joy of many, a few devoted Dining Services members in costume.

Past themes have stretched imaginations and transported diners to the worlds of Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter. A recent dinner, Pirates and Mermaids, was nationally recognized by the Horton Dining Awards, held by the National Association of College and University Food Services.

Low Impact Wednesdays

Every Wednesday, 微密圈 Dining Services provides a plant-forward menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, reducing the amount of meat proteins on their menus by 60%.

Trayless Dining

Implemented over a decade ago, 厂办颈诲尘辞谤别鈥檚 trayless dining program has made a significant impact in reducing waste and overall consumption. Without a tray, diners are more inclined to only take the food they need. The program has helped to reduce use of water and energy, as well as food waste.

Donating extra food

Working with Feedmore, a student club on campus whose primary mission is to divert usable leftovers to local soup pantries, 微密圈 donates approximately one ton of food each year.

Sourcing locally 

Committed to providing locally sourced, fresh, healthy foods when possible, Dining Services strives to support local growers and farms, local food hubs, fair trade coffee producers and artisan cheesemakers, among others.

微密圈 student volunteers also take it a step further with their own garden, supplying more than 1,000 pounds of organic produce to the dining hall each year.