Eat Local Challenge

Release date: September 25, 2007 |

Goucher students, faculty, and staff can rise to the “Eat Local Challenge” on Tuesday, September 25 and help support food producers in their community, as well as the local economy.

The college’s food services provider, Bon Appétit Management Company, will serve a lunch made entirely from ingredients originating within a 150-mile radius of campus — even down to the flour that is used to make the bread.

This act, while seemingly simple, has far-reaching implications.

In the United States, food now travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to table, which is as much as 25 percent farther than two decades ago, according to the Worldwatch Institute. Shipping and warehousing food has become one of the major contributors to global warming and air and water pollution.

Besides reducing greenhouse gas emissions, buying from local growers helps support sustainable farming practices that replenish the land, and it can prevent foods that contain pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics from reaching consumers’ plates.

Bon Appétit has 400 cafés in corporations, specialty venues, and colleges and universities — including at Goucher — and serves 80 million meals per year. The company launched the Eat Local Challenge in 2005 to raise awareness about where food comes from, the importance of local versus organic, and the impact of “food miles” – the distance food travels from the farm to the dining table.