Author: Ostrowski, Kevin

Dining Services to End Use of Plastic Bags

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The University of Connecticut’s Department of Dining Services will be eliminating the use of plastic bags in its retail and grab & go venues. Effective, Monday, January 21st UConn Dining will discontinue the use of plastic shopping bags in support of the university’s ongoing sustainable efforts.

This initiative, to discontinue the use of plastic shopping bags, was jump started by a subcommittee of UConnPIRG, a student run, nonprofit organization on the UConn Campus.  Their campaign, to phase out the use of plastic bags, was supported by student surveys and petitions. Beyond policy work, PIRG’s zero waste committee enhanced student awareness regarding the pitfalls of single-use plastics through educational lectures and movie screenings. These initiatives highlighted the deleterious impact of plastic bags on both environmental and public health.

Dining Services will be discontinuing the use of plastic bags in all of their retail operations as well as in their Grab & Go’s. In place of the use of the former plastic bag UConn Dining will be offering a brown paper, 100% recyclable and reusable bag at the cost of ten cents each. In addition, Dining will be offering reusable pocket size shopping bags for sale at cost at the Union Central Exchange located in the Student Union.

Dining Services will also be working with UConn PIRG this semester to establish drop off containers so that paper bags may be recycled utilized by other consumers at no cost to them.

For more information, read the story in UConn Today

Dining Services 2019 Culinary Competition

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You Are Invited to Attend!

The Department of Dining Services will hold its 19th annual Culinary Olympics on Tuesday, January 15, 2019. The event will take place at the South Campus Rome Ballroom, located on the University of Connecticut, Storrs Campus.

The first event is the “Recipe Contest,” which is scheduled to begin at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Recipes must be prepared on site for 12 portions, and must fall into one of the following categories: Appetizer/Entrée/Dessert. Recipes will then be judged on the following criteria: Clarity of Recipe/Creativity of Dish/Cooking Techniques/Use of Ingredients/Taste and Texture.

9:30am-10:30am: Chef Demonstration- George Giotsas, Chef Owner, “Little Mark’s Big BBQ, Vernon, CT. http://littlemarksbbq.com/  Horiatikes Keftedes (Greek village style meatballs) / Horiatiki Salata (Greek village style Salad)

10:30am-1:30 pm: UConn Bakery Demos’ and Displays- Stop by and learn the art of decorating from our professional pastry chefs and bakers.

The final event is scheduled to begin at approximately 12:30pm and is called “BOILING POINT”. This is our version of the “Iron Chef” competition that will involve teams of three chefs representing the different dining facilities within the department. Each team will be presented with a mystery box of ingredients and will use miscellaneous items from our pantry to prepare three different Tapas (small foods or appetizers) on each plate. Teams will have 75 minutes to prepare their dishes for 4 judges. Teams will then be scored on the following criteria: Creativity of Dish / Cooking Techniques / Use of Ingredients / Taste, and Textures. (Teams are not allowed to bring ingredients or use ingredients that are not supplied by the competition)

“Award Presentation immediately following Boiling Point”

 

Schedule of Events

9:30am: Cooking Demonstration

George Giotsas, Chef Owner “Little Mark’s Big BBQ, Vernon, CT. Horiatikes Keftedes (Greek village style meatballs) / Horiatiki Salata (Greek village style Salad)- http://littlemarksbbq.com/

 

10:30am-12:15pm: Recipe Contest Judging

Judge: Chef Will Deason, Willimantic Brewing Company / Main Street Café, Willimantic, CT. www.willibrew.com
Judge: Jason Bentley, Department Head, Culinary Arts, Norwich Technical High School, http://norwich.cttech.org/index.html.
Judge: Ruth Hartunian-Alumbaugh, Chair Willimantic Chocolate Festival, and Food writer, Willimantic Chronicle, https://thechronicle.com/
Judge: Owner Andrew Gutt, Cafemantic Restaurant, Willimantic, CT. https://cafemantic.com/

12:30pm-4:45pm: “Boiling Point” Competition

Judge: Chef Christopher Prosperi, Chef-Owner, Metro Bis Restaurant. www.MetroBis.com
Judge: Rand Richards Cooper, Novelist, Longtime Food and Travel writer, and Food Critic with The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/
Judge: Kristen Fritz, Public Relations, Strategic Marketing, Community Development, Social Networking https://www.eatin-ct.com/
Judge: Jeannette Punsoni Dardenne, Public Relations, Strategic Marketing, Community Development, Social Networking https://www.eatin-ct.com/

“Award Presentation immediately following Boiling Point”

 

For more information contact: Robert Landolphi, Assistant Director Culinary Development at Robert.landolphi@uconn.edu