RPS serves local food to benefit students’ health, regional farmers

Residential Programs and Services has included local foods in an effort to focus on sustainability and healthy eating within the dining halls.

RPS is promoting initiatives like removing trays from Collins  and Read Center food courts. Dining hall kitchens are also recycling cans and cardboard.

RPS is finding ways to incorporate local, healthy food into students’ diets.

“This has always been a goal of RHA to provide diverse, local food to students,” said Robin Spencer, RHA vice president of Programming and the chairwoman of the Meal Plan Committee.

In dining service’s efforts to provide local foods to students, apples sold in the dining halls are from Trafalgar, Ind. Other items are prepared from scratch on campus such as cinnamon rolls, breads and cookies.

“A lot of students don’t realize that we have a lot of local things in the dining halls,” RPS registered dietitian Rachel Noirot said.

The benefits of eating local are aiding more than just IU students, Spencer said.
“It is important to help the farmers,” Spencer said. “We live in Bloomington, but the food we buy is from the surrounding Indiana area.”

In addition to local food, RPS strives to provide healthy foods to students through the Eat Right stations as well as Union Street Market.

“We are trying to integrate more colorful fruits and vegetables into the dining halls,” Noirot said.

It is important to integrate local food habits into students’ diets now so that they can incorporate these changes into their lifestyle in the future, Noirot said.

“When they graduate, they have in mind that eating local is beneficial,” Noirot said. “This could also prevent future health problems.”

Spencer said RPS hopes to supply food that students enjoy and that is good for them.

“We have such a diverse campus,” Spencer said. “We need to provide all students with something they can eat.”