Locally Grown Foods

Approximately 56% of all food served is purchased from vendors within 250 miles of the Morningside campus. Columbia Dining works with a New York City Greenmarket and area farms to choose local, fair trade, and organic foods whenever possible. 

Beverages

  • Milk originates from Battenkill Valley Creamery in Salem, NY. Battenkill Valley Creamery guarantees their dairy products are fresh, local, and all natural and pledge to their customers that they do not use pesticides, insecticides, or artificial growth hormones.

  • Coffee is fair trade, organic, shade grown, bird friendly, and roasted in Brooklyn by the Brooklyn Roasting Company.

  • All Coca-Cola products are manufactured in the Bronx.

Fruits and Vegetables

  • Tomatoes are sourced by FreshPoint Connecticut and purchased from local farms such as James Desiderio in Buffalo, NY, Chrisaforo Farms in North Haven, CT, and Beckett Farms in Glastonbury, CT. Both options help to ensure freshness and reduce carbon emissions. FreshPoint partners with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a non-profit community-based workers organization that works to improve wages and working conditions for farm workers in the tomato supply chain.

  • Tomatoes are also grown at Old Maid's Farm in South Glastonbury, CT, and used for salsa made by Onofrio’s of New Haven, CT.

  • Apples and fresh apple cider are purchased from local farms located in New York State.

  • Strawberries, grown at Hindinger Farm in Hamden, CT, are used for jam, also made by Onofrio’s of New Haven, CT. 

  • Suppliers provide seasonal and locally grown vegetables to the dining halls and retail outlets. Vegetables include green leaf, romaine, and Boston lettuce; cucumbers; red radishes; green, red and white cabbage; leeks; turnips; escarole; red, green, Serrano, jalapeno, and Italian peppers; red beets; carrots; portabella, shiitake, enoki, crimini, and button mushrooms; spaghetti, butternut, yellow, and zucchini squashes; pumpkin; eggplant; collard greens; spinach; red and white potatoes; Swiss chard; green beans; corn; parsnips; sweet onions; and green peas.

Bakery and Condiments

  • Bakery goods and grab-and-go sandwiches are purchased from local vendors in New York City’s five boroughs.

  • Honey is purchased from Ballard’s Honey in Roxbury, NY, a Columbia Greenmarket vendor.

Meats and Seafood

  • Seafood purchases are determined by the Northeast guidelines of Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. Dining buys from the “Best Choices” category, meaning the fish are plentiful and caught or farmed according to sustainability standards.

  • All of our chicken and pork is hormone and antibiotic free and our tofu is GMO-free.