It's Summer Time!

Greetings Ursinus Community!!

We hope everyone is surviving finals week! Since most of us will be leaving for summer break in the next couple of days for this week’s blog post we will be bringing you…

5 Ways to Eat More Sustainably Over Summer Break

1) Eat Seasonally
When fruits and vegetables have to be grown out of their growing season it takes a lot more resources than when they are grown in season. It helps lower your ecological footprint by eating only fruits while they are in season – and there’s lots in season over the summer! Below is a helpful chart to help know what is in season when in Pennsylvania. The in-season fruits and vegetables during the summer are apples, beets, cantaloupe, cucumbers, sweet corn, lettuce, onions, peaches, summer squash and raspberries – try to eat some of those over summer break!

(http://www.papreferred.com/seasonal_calendar.aspx)

2) Eat Organic

Certified organic food cannot have synthetic pesticides, fertilizers or antibiotics used when they are being grown or produced. This limits the amount of synthetic chemical leaching that can take place from agriculture fields into the surrounding ecosystems and thus help protect that ecosystems biodiversity. Make sure when you go to the super market over break you look for this seal of approval! Also check out our C-Store post from last week to learn more about all the different food certifications and what they mean!

(www.usda.gov)

3) Eat Less Meat and Dairy

The billions of animals raised for meat consumption in the US today is done in CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). Not only do these CAFOs violate a lot of animal rights issue but they are also extremely resource heavy, using large amounts of water, corn, and energy in order to produce meat in large quantities. Meat production also accounts for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. Choosing a salad over a hamburger one night over spring break can have huge environmental benefits. Try to go “Meatless Monday” during summer break; even just one day, or one less meatless meal, will have a huge impact!

Sources: http://www.hellawella.com/top-10-easy-ways-to-eat-more-sustainably/8790

                http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nil-zacharias/its-time-to-end-factory-f_b_1018840.html

4) Eat Whole Foods

Eating highly processed foods can not only be bad for your health but can also be bad for the environment. The production and transportation of processed food leads to carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Likewise processed foods are usually wrapped in various types of plastics that get thrown away and end up in a landfill somewhere. Eating whole food is definitely the way to go when trying to eat more sustainably.

5) Drink Tap Water

Similar to whole food, bottle water is packed in plastic bottles. Again the majority of these bottles get thrown away and end up in a landfill. By using a reusable water bottle and drinking tap water your ecological impact is significantly decreased! You will also want to make sure you stay hydrated during the hot summer months.

These five simple ways to make your summer more sustainable can help have a huge positive impact on the environment. Now in addition to these sustainable actions here are two fun tips to help make your summer even more sustainable and tasteful!

When you go shopping for groceries choose items with less packaging and bring your own reusable bags that way you are reducing your plastic consumption. Just keep your reusable bags in the trunk of your car  - that way you always have them with you. Since the reusable bags hold more grocery then the plastic bags think about all the plastic you can save!

Here is one final sustainable recipe for the summer to help keep you cool!

Fruit Popsicles

Grab some Popsicle molds or ice cube molds and fill them with frozen or fresh fruit. Pour a juice of your choice into the molds and then freeze them. You can also blend up some watermelon with mint and little lime juice, pour it into the molds and freeze. By using fruits that are in season, this snack is tasty, refreshing, and sustainable!

(https://www.pinterest.com/warmhuggs/homemade-fruit-pops/)

We hope you all enjoy your summer break and think about how you can all be more sustainable. We will be back next fall with even more sustainable recipes for you to try out in Upper Wismer. So make sure to check back in in the fall!

Enjoy your summer everyone!!

Allie & Vanessa

Real Food Challenge

Office of Sustainability Fellows

Staying Sustainable at the C-Store

            With the end of the spring semester quickly approaching, many of us will be purging our left over dining dollars at the convenience store in the effort to use them all before summer. Ursinus loads the C-store with everything a college student could crave—from soda to Reese’s candy to Doritos—but they also stock it up with options that are much more environmentally sustainable and healthy in comparison. Today we will help you navigate the C-Store and identify the goodies available for an environmentally-conscious bear like you!

Tips:

Certifications

Look for certifications on packages that indicate products meet various sustainability-related standards such as organic, non-GMO, fair trade, rain forest friendly, etc. Here are some examples:

Less is more!

                Check out the ingredients on the back of product packaging. Generally, fewer ingredients means less processing. The planet takes a toll for the processing of food products as it usually requires more transportation and fuel and consequently emits more greenhouse gasses and creates more waste. When considering the environment within our C-Store purchases, aim to buy foods with four ingredients or less. Also, the more natural the ingredients are, the better. Not being able to pronounce a certain ingredient or not knowing what one is can serve as red flags indicating highly processed foods as well. However, these could also be vitamins and other micro ingredients. Use your cell phone to quickly look up questionable ingredients to figure out how much processing goes into it!

Eat plants for your planet

                As we have stressed many a times on this blog, a diet of plant-based foods is an ideal way to eat for the well-being of the environment. Meat, animal products, and their production processes, provide us with inefficient sources of food in regards to our plant, water, and land resources (to name a few). In addition, animal agriculture is a huge greenhouse gas emitter and cause of other types of pollution. When buying snacks, try to stick to plant-based options. This is typically very easy to do, and you most likely have some vegan favorites already, but sometimes animal products can make an appearance without us noticing it. This applies especially to dairy products. Dairy can be present in several forms besides the obvious of milk and cheese. These include lactose and whey, a sugar and protein derived from milk, respectively. Look for these while you are checking out the ingredients in your snacks before you buy them. If you are still not sure, the allergy information provides a great short cut, since it will identify if the product contains milk.

Look for brands you can identify as local!

Some Suggestions!

Hungry?

Annie’s Mac n’ Cheese

Right Foods Dr. McDougall’s Vegan Pad Thai Noodle Soup and Vegan Tortilla Soup

Macro a Vegetarian: Thai dumplings, pad Thai, sushi, sesame noodles, etc.: Locally sourced, made in Monroe Township, NJ.

Channa Masala: No certifications, but it is vegan and made with some non-GMO ingredients.

Amy’s meals and burritos – non dairy, non-GMO, mostly organic ingredients

Garden Salad

Snacks

Mary’s Gone Crackers crackers and pretzels: USDA certified organic, non-GMO verified, what and gluten-free, nut-free, whole grain

Cliff Bars: Rain forest alliance certification, 70% organic ingredients, vegan

Tostito’s organic blue corn tortilla chips: USDA certified organic, non-GMO verified, three ingredients

Late July Organic tortilla chips: USDA certified organic, non-GMO verified, 100% whole grain, zero trans-fats, lower sodium. Be on the lookout for some flavors that have seasoning contain whey though.

Drinks

Naked Juice (various flavors): Non-GMO verified, 100% juice

Aloegloe (lemonade, crisp aloe, white grape, coconut): USDA certified organic, sourced in North America and produced in California

Honest Tea (Half tea/half lemonade, honey green, and pomegranate blue): USDA certified organic, fair trade certified hibiscus and sugar, non-GMO

Rosenberger’s Dairies milk: If you choose milk, Ursinus provides us with a pretty good choice as the brand carried in the C-Store is local, from Hatfield, PA.

Sweets

Newman-O’s: A great substitute for Oreo’s because they are made with organic flour and organic sugar. They are also vegan, believe it or not!

Lucy’s Cookies (ginger snap and chocolate chip): Many organic ingredients, non-GMO verified, vegan certified, kosher certified, nut-free, gluten-free

Bark thins snacking chocolate (pretzel, almond, mint): fair trade certified, non-GMO verified, vegan

 

    

A Sweet Sweet Potato

One classic Wismer food item is the sweet potato. Did you know that sweet potatoes are native to the Americas? They were originally grown in the tropical Americas. Then they were later introduced to other parts of the world like Europe, Africa, and Asia. The cool thing about sweet potatoes is that they can be grown all most anywhere, as long as there is deep, moist soil. They can thrive in both tropic and temperate zones.

This is good thing because the sweet potatoes that we all eat in Wismer probably come from within the US, cutting back on food miles and transportation that can cause emissions that are harmful to the environment. Compared to foods that have to travel long distances in order to reach our mouths like bananas, sweet potatoes are a healthy food option with relatively few food miles.

Here are three different ways to switch up the way you eat your sweet potato and make it an even sweeter experience!

1. Grab a packet of peanut butter from the Deli Bar. Mix the peanut butter in with the potato. Then top it all off with some cinnamon!
2. To give your sweet potato a little extra crunch and flavor, you can mix in some cranberries from the Yogurt Bar.
3. Now instead of always adding items to your sweet potato, you can instead add your sweet potato to some of your other foods. Cut up your sweet potato and add it as a topping to your salad or pasta. This is a great way to get an extra dose of veggie!

And, of course, brown sugar is always a full proof way to enjoy a sweet potato!

Now sweet potatoes are typically grown in Pennsylvania during August and September, so right now the sweet potatoes you eat are not necessary local, but they still likely come from within the US. Thus the most ideal time to eat them is right when we return to school from summer break.

Happy Eating!!

Source Info:

https://worldcrops.org/crops/sweet-potato

Strawberry Bruschetta

            As we are sure you all have noticed, strawberries have made their way into the Wismer’s fruit bar! We know you are as excited as we are (because who doesn’t love strawberries?) so this week’s recipe features the little ruby gems.

Did you know that Pennsylvania is one of the country’s top producer states of strawberries? It is important to note, however, that although strawberries are coming into season, it is still very early for Pennsylvania producers to be harvesting them. This means that the strawberries available to us in PA right now are most likely from other states with warmer climates, like California. Therefore, having strawberries in April comes with a toll on the environment due to the transportation required to ship them to us. Since transportation most often requires the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon emissions into our environment, the farther our food must travel, the more it contributes to the climate change. This is why sourcing our food as locally as we can is an important part of having an environmentally sustainable diet.

Ursinus’ dining service, Sodexo, makes an effort to buy locally, with a goal of 20% local sourcing of the food they distribute by 2020. A regional producer that Sodexo already collaborates with, Amoroso’s Bread & Rolls, provides Wismer with the majority of its bread. This is why we feature bread in today’s menu item.

The best time in Pennsylvania to enjoy strawberries varies slightly each year. Strawberry plants can produce their fruit as early as May, but this typically peaks in June, and then the fruit stays in season through the remainder of the summer months. Though eating strawberries in PA is not ideal for the environment now, we recommend ample amounts of strawberry consumption in a few months! In the meantime, you can take advantage of this rare treat in Wismer, and the recipe below can help you do so while simultaneously spicing up your dining hall meal options.

Strawberry Bruschetta

What you’ll need:

• Strawberries (~2 or 3)
• Bread of choice
• Feta cheese
• Spinach
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• Soup bowl, plate, knife, and fork

Instructions:

1. Grab some strawberries from the fruit bar, a soup bowl, a knife, and a fork.
2. Head over to the deli to pop one or two slices of bread into the toaster. If you wish to make your bruschetta on a roll or other type of bread behind the deli, ask the deli worker to toast the desired bread for you.
3. While your bread is toasting, take a seat to slice your strawberries into pieces of your size preference with the knife.
4. Put the strawberry pieces in the soup bowl and bring it to the salad bar. Cover the strawberries in balsamic vinegar. While you are here, get some spinach leaves.
5. Retrieve your toast, place it on a plate, and head over to the Mediterranean bar. On the way, stop at the salad bar again to drizzle some olive oil on the toast. At the Mediterranean bar, get some feta cheese and place it on top of the toast.
6. At your seat, use the fork to smoosh down and evenly disperse the feta cheese on the toast.
7. Place several spinach leaves on top of the cheese.
8. Next, scoop out the now marinated balsamic strawberries using your fork, letting the excess vinegar drip back into the bowl before placing them on top of the spinach.
9. As a final touch, sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper on top of the bruschetta. If you prefer a more authentic pepper than the one in the shaker provided on your table, a pepper grinder is provided near the dressings at the salad bar!
10. Enjoy!

Tip of the week:

If you were wondering what is currently in season in PA, the answer is asparagus, lettuce, and tomatoes. Perhaps these three would work nicely together with strawberries in a salad! Happy eating!

Sources:

https://uvfdining.sodexomyway.com/planet/local.html

http://extension.psu.edu/business/ag-alternatives/horticulture/fruits/strawberry-production

http://www.simplesteps.org/eat-local/state/pennsylvania

Sustainable Lower

Hello Ursinus Community,

We all know that Upper Wismer isn’t the only place to get food on campus, so to switch things up for this week we are giving you three sustainable food options from Lower Wismer. Our focus for sustainability this week is going to be water and how much water it takes to grow the food you are eating. Clean water is a valuable commodity and is getting more and more scarce in the U.S. Therefore it is becoming more and more important for us to conserve this finite resource. Here are three filling food options that are also being relatively water conscious.

                                                                                                                                               

Veggie Rice Bowl from Sandella’s

Order a Make Your Own Rice Bowl from Sandella’s including brown rice, black beans, any veggies you want, salsa and/or guacamole. For vegetables we suggest broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, and onions. Here are the amounts of water used to produce each vegetable:

Broccoli	19.5 gallons of water
Carrots	7.4 gallons of water
Onions	9.5 gallons of water
Tomatoes	7.6 gallons of water
Rice	299 gallons of water
Wheat Bowl	154 gallons of water
Beans	5 gallons of water
Beef	29.6 gallons of water

All four of these vegetable have a relatively small environmental impact, so feel free to load up on those. Now as you can also see in the chart both rice and wheat bowl are water intensive resources. This is why we suggest only getting the rice and skip the wheat bowl, as an easy way to save water. Likewise, per gram of protein, beans are less water intensive than beef and other meats. You can check out this video to see what other benefits beans have as compared to beef - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE_FpSSK94k. Lastly, make sure to put on salsa and/or guacamole. This will not only add extra flavor to your rice bowl but are made out of actual foods like avocados, tomatoes, onions and chile peppers.

Using these ingredients you will be able to make a more environmentally conscious rice bowl and one simple decision can save a lot of water!

Sources:

·         http://graphics.latimes.com/food-water-footprint/

·         http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/food-water-footprint_n_5952862.html

·         http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/from-lettuce-to-beef-whats-the-water-footprint-of-your-food.html

Salad from Jazzman’s

Making a salad at Jazzman’s is another great option that Lower Wismer has to offer. For the base of your salad you could use either lettuce or spinach. Both lettuce and spinach are healthy greens that don’t use a lot of water. Then you can add the same veggies listed above: broccoli, tomatoes, and carrots. You can also add apples and cucumbers to switch things up. As you can see in the chart even though their water usage is more then the other vegetables they are still good sustainable options.

Lettuce	6.8 gallons of water
Spinach	11.1 gallons of water
Apples	33.8 gallons of water
Cucumbers	25.4 gallons of water

Now, for dressing, we suggest just get plain olive oil or vinegar because they are the least processed dressings.

Sources:

·         http://graphics.latimes.com/food-water-footprint/

Hummus Wrap from Sub Connection

We all know that there is the Mediterranean Bar in Upper Wismer, but did you know you can get hummus added to your sub from Sub Connection? Hummus is a great source of protein that does not use a lot of water. Beef uses 1,847 gallons of water per pound, while chickpeas use 1,217.2 gallons of water per pound. That is a 630 gallons difference!! So next time you want to get a sub from Lower order a Vegetarian Sub and load it up with all great vegetables we talked about earlier. Then when your number is called simply ask the server to add hummus on your sub; easy!

Sources:

·         http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/food-water-footprint_n_5952862.html

·         http://graphics.latimes.com/food-water-footprint/

Make sure to order these three (more) sustainable food options in Lower this week!! Also make sure to check out this virtual water calculator to find out the amount of water that is used to make one of you favorite meals: http://graphics.latimes.com/food-water-footprint/. Happy Eating! 

Peanut Butter and Banana Roll-Up!

Greetings Ursinus!

Today we bring you a great way to mix up your average peanut butter sandwich to eat at any meal! Also be sure to check out the tips at the end of the post. Have a wonderful day and enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Banana Roll-Up!

What You’ll Need:

• One whole wheat wrap
• Peanut butter
• One banana
• Raisins (optional)
• A knife and plate

Instructions:

1. Ask for just a whole wheat wrap at the deli.
2. Grab some packets of peanut butter.
3. If you wish, get a small dish full of raisins provided at the salad topping station on the far right side of the fruit and yogurt bar.
4. Head to the cases of fruit and get a banana.
5. At a cutlery station, grab a plate and a knife.
6. At your seat, place your wrap on your plate and use your knife to spread your desired amount of peanut butter all over one flat side of your wrap.
7. If you chose to add raisins, sprinkle some all over the spread peanut butter. We recommend adding raisins for additional texture in the roll-up, as well as some added fiber. This may sound strange, however raisins act as a healthier alternative to grape jelly. They have the same grape flavor, but raisins give you the additional health benefits of fiber that come with eating the whole fruit source, as opposed to just its concentrated sugar content that you get when eating jelly.
8. Completely peel your banana and lay it on the wrap, off-center, so that it is an inch or two from one side.
9. Lift the short side of the wrap over and on top of the banana, the peanut butter should stick to the banana to help the wrap stay.
10. Next, roll the banana so that the side on top of it gets tucked between the banana and the other side of the wrap. Continue rolling the banana over the whole wrap until it is completely rolled up in the wrap and no peanut butter is exposed. It will end up looking similar to a burrito.
11. Finally, use your knife to cut off the excess wrap rolled up at both ends of the banana and devour.

Enjoy!

Fun facts and Food Tips:

• Looking for a way to spice up your healthy salad? Look no further than Wismer’s pizza station! The dining hall provides dried oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, and garlic powder in shakers next to the trays of pizza. Sprinkle one, or all three, onto your salad to make it a more exciting meal option without compromising its nutritional value with added oil, salt, or sugars. 

• Upper Wismer consistently offers freshly halved grapefruits throughout the year, but did you now that now is the best time to eat them? Grapefruits are in season from January through the early summer months, and since it is springtime, they are peaking in terms of favorable growing conditions, value, and flavor!

Apple, (Almond?), and Sunflower Seed Salad

Hello Ursinus,

Spring has sprung! In honor of the first day of spring yesterday, here is nice spring salad for you all to enjoy!

Apple, (Almond), and Sunflower Seed Salad

1. Head to the Salad Bar and get the greens of your choice, then we suggest getting cucumbers, carrots, and edamame. Feel free to add any other veggies of you want.
2. Now head to the other side of the salad bar and add the pre-cut apples.
3. Add some sliced almonds (if you want to given the information below and sunflower seeds.
4. Head back to the Salad Bar to coat your salad with either balsamic vinaigrette dressing or oil and balsamic vinegar.

Tip: If you want your salad really mixed up just grab another salad bowl place it on top of your current one and shake!

Now while almonds are a great source of protein, 1 cup has 20g of protein, there are some concerns. In the U.S. commercially produced almonds come from California. California is experiencing the worst drought in recent history. Considering that each individual almond uses 1.1 gallons of water; all that water needs to be drawn out of aquifers and used for agriculture purposes. However aquifers are not infinite sources of water, in fact they are the complete composite. The almonds used in this salad were water from finite freshwater under the ground. Not the most environmentally friendly thing. This just shows how even the smallest nut can have a large impact on our environment.

Enjoy!

For more information check out:

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/almonds-demon-nuts/379244/

Mediterranean Hummus Wrap

Happy Monday Ursinus!

We hope everyone had a relaxing spring break and is ready to conquer the last home stretch of the semester. Today we bring you a recipe that puts the Mediterranean bar in Wismer to good use, because let’s be honest, does anyone know how we’re supposed to eat those olives and artichokes? In addition to topping salads with the Mediterranean foods available, we recommend using them to create this delicious and wholesome wrap!

The star ingredient of this recipe is hummus: a great dip but also an awesome alternative spread for sandwiches and wraps. Hummus is plant-based and made primarily from chick peas, so it is friendlier towards the environment, animals, and your body. Hummus can pack a protein punch into your meal with less fat than many common spreads. The thick and creamy texture of hummus means that it is easy to also leave out the cheese from your sandwich or wrap if you wish to make your meal even more plant-powered! Here are some nutritional comparisons of hummus to other condiments you may use:

1 Tablespoon (13.8g) of…

	Hummus	Mayonnaise (contains eggs)	Cream Cheese (contains milk)
Calories	25	94	49
Fat (g)	1.4	10	5
Saturated fat (g)	0.2	1.6	2.8
Cholesterol (mg)	0	6	16
Carbohydrates (g)	2.1	0.1	0.6
Sugar (g)	0	0.1	0.5
Fiber (g)	0.9	0	0
Protein (g)	1.2	0.1	0.9
Sodium (mg)	57	88	47
Potassium (mg)	34	3	20

You can see that hummus is lower in calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sugar, and sodium than mayonnaise and cream cheese, but higher in the nutrients that are better for your health and energy levels: carbohydrates, fiber, protein, and potassium. This makes hummus a great food to incorporate into any meal!

Mediterranean Hummus Wrap!

What you’ll need:

• Whole wheat wrap
• A scoop of Hummus
• Veggies of choice, e.g. Spinach or lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, onions, tomatoes, etc.
• A few olives
• 3-5 roasted red pepper strips
• 1 or 2 artichokes
• Feta (optional, vegan without)
•  Knife and spoon 

Instructions:

1. Go to the deli and ask for just a whole wheat wrap.
2.  Go to the salad bar and get veggies of choice.
3. Go to the Mediterranean bar and get olives, artichokes, roasted red peppers, hummus, and feta (if desired).
4. Get the knife and spoon.
5. At your table, use the spoon to dollop and spread hummus all over one flat side of the wrap.
6. Use knife to cut the olives, roasted red peppers, artichokes, and any other veggies you feel necessary, into smaller pieces to fit and disperse them better in the wrap.
7. Lay all remaining ingredients on top of the hummus in a pile concentrated on one side of the wrap.
8. To fold your wrap, refer to the following diagram:

           Or bring your unfolded wrap to the deli and kindly ask the staff there to fold it for you.

       9. A final optional step you can take is to ask the deli staff member to toast your wrap for you!

Enjoy!