“What food would you recommend for a ninja?”

This was a real question – my favorite question – I fielded this past Wednesday.

I think the more accurate summarizing remark of the local food fall fest lunch at Champlain College came from a first year student who strolled up to the spread under the white tent in the middle of the dining hall.

“I’m so overwhelmed, where do I start??”

I knew how she felt, as I had shared the same sentiment when I walked in that morning as Jimmy Fanton, Sandi Earle, and their dining team were finishing setting up.

  

 

Let me give you a sense of the spread I’m referring to.
The menu included:
Vermont Beancrafters Bean Chocolate Cookies
Local Watermelon Gazpacho
Fresh juice (juiced at the stand!): ginger, carrot, clementine, and kale
GrandyOats Granola
Vermont Autumn Beet and Apple Salad
Japanese Cucumber Salad
Fingerling Potato Salad

(Special thanks to our friends at Black River Produce – who stopped by the tent – for sourcing the local fruits and veggies for this event!)

While the menu was indeed complex, enticing, and certainly a showcase, many of the items were taken straight from the resident dining menu.  This event was an opportunity to bring attention to the work already being done using local ingredients in resident dining dishes, and encouraged students to be on the lookout for more.

As for my recommendation to all the ninja’s out there: it’s hard to go wrong with throwing back a swig of the fresh juice with ginger. It’s rugged and has a surprise spicy kick at the end – just like you!

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