For the third consecutive year, a specialty recipe developed by UConn Dining Services has received first-place honors from a nationwide organization of collegiate food service providers.<\/p>\n
\nWe pride ourselves on doing everything possible to support sustainability, especially local agriculture. We are now the largest user of Connecticut-grown produce in the state. — Robert Landolphi<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
This year\u2019s recipe, a bibimbap steak and egg burrito<\/a>, won the gold medal for Best Local Foods Recipe from the National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS<\/a>) in the organization\u2019s 2017 Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards.<\/p>\n
Dining Services will be honored in July by the association for that award, along with the bronze medal it also won this year in the Residential Dining Concepts category for the Putnam Refectory dining hall\u2019s renovation<\/a>.<\/p>\n
NACUFS and other groups have consistently honored UConn over the years for the quality of its food, including locally sourced, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and other specialty offerings.<\/p>\n
Last year, Dining Services<\/a> won the NACUFS gold medal for 2016 Best Vegan Recipe for its \u201cNot so Crabby Vegan Crab Cakes with Remoulade Dressing<\/a>,\u201d which uses hearts of palm to emulate the texture and flavor of crab. In 2015, Dining Services also brought home top honors in the Best Local Foods Recipe with a gold medal for its sweet potato gnocchi<\/a>, made with eight different local ingredients.<\/p>\n
The bibimbap steak and egg burrito that earned UConn Dining Services its gold medal this year is a mixed-rice dish \u2013 as suggested by \u201cbibimbap,\u201d the Korean word for the phrase \u2013 with \u00a0ingredients that come from on-campus sources or farms in the region.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a popular offering at the Food for Thought<\/a> food truck, which is often parked in front of the Homer Babbidge Library during the academic year. Unlike most bibimbap dishes served in bowls, UConn\u2019s is a hand-held wrapped version so it is easy for students to eat while walking across campus after buying it at the truck.<\/p>\n
Wrapped up neatly in a 12-inch flour tortilla, the burrito is \u201cmade with a delicious marinade of saut\u00e9ed fruit and vegetables on top of white rice, sliced beef, and an over-easy egg drizzled with Korean gochujang dressing,\u201d its description reads.<\/p>\n
The beef, Asian pears, and shiitake mushrooms in the burrito come from area farms, while the vegetables, eggs, and honey are sourced on campus and at UConn’s Spring Valley<\/a> Student Farm.<\/p>\n
Dining Services has increased its purchases of Connecticut-grown food by 35 percent in the past few years, having established strong relationships with local farmers and the produce distributor who informs those farmers before the growing season \u2013 when prices can be locked in \u2013 of the specific items that the University will want to buy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe pride ourselves on doing everything possible to support sustainability, especially local agriculture,\u201d said Robert Landolphi, UConn\u2019s culinary operations manager. \u201cWe are now the largest user of Connecticut-grown produce in the state, and have begun purchasing as much livestock from local farms as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dining Services serves about 185,000 meals a week at its eight dining halls at the Storrs campus, and also operates a network of caf\u00e9s on campus, a food court, and a fine dining restaurant, Chuck & Augie\u2019s.<\/p>\n