Good Eats!

To:            LREI Community

From:            Phil Kassen, Director

Re:            LREI’s lunch service

Date:            November 2010

The other day I bumped into an alumni parent. We talked about his son and the changes at LREI in the years since his graduation. We also spoke of how the Village has changed in recent years.  He asked if there were any good new places for lunch.  While I could tell him where each of his son’s classmates had ended up, I had no idea of neighborhood places for lunch as I eat in the same place, my favorite place, every day—LREI’s cafeteria.

Each day, in our two cafeterias, we provide a hot entrée, a vegetarian alternative, a homemade soup, a sandwich of the day and a variety of choices of salads and sandwich fixings at our salad bar.  Add yogurt, fresh bread and a variety of beverages and you have the makings of a healthy, delicious lunch.  Each day at lunchtime, early childhood students enjoy a selection of these choices in their classrooms.

As you may know, LREI contracts with Cater to You, a full service food service and catering company, to prepare lunch for over 700 people per day.  In addition to lunch, our dedicated kitchen crew, led by head chef Jorge Lema, provides breakfast for LREI’s employees, daily snack in all three divisions and for Afterschool and often prepares food for evening events.

For over ten years, LREI has had a very productive and collegial partnership with Cater To You (CTY.)  A few years ago in a conversation with Anthony Trentacosti, founder and owner of CTY, we decided that he would try to find a source for local New York State apples rather than buying Washington State apples.  This brief conversation about the quality and source of our provisions led to a variety of changes. These include:

Ø  The elimination of trans fats and high fructose corn syrup from virtually all menu items.

Ø  Meals are prepared with the ingredients from traceable and reputable partners

Ø  The elimination of prepared, frozen entrees.

Ø  The use of many local produce items including apples, pears, carrots, onions, cider and many other seasonal fruits and vegetables.

Ø  The purchase of local free range, antibiotic and hormone free, locally sourced eggs from Featherstone Farms and Knoll Crest Farms

Ø Beef from Creekstone Farms

• Antibiotic & hormone free beef
• No growth promoting drugs
• No artificial ingredients
• 100% vegetarian diet
• Sourced verified to ranch of birth
• Humane animal handling practices

Ø Chicken products are purchased from Bell & Evans Poultry

• Antibiotic & hormone free poultry
• Air- chilled
• Fed an all-natural diet
• Hydrogenated oil free
• Hexane gas free

Ø  Milk, in the cafeteria and the early childhood classrooms is from Ronnybrook Farms Milk – closed herd, grass fed, free range cows

• Grass Fed
• Antibiotic – hormone free
• Local NY State dairy
• Low temp pasteurized
• Not homogenized

Ø   Fish for entrees is purchased from Litchfield Farms Organic & Natural Seafood: Seafood that is sustainable, traceable, healthy and always fresh

• A small company that values and treats our customers as partners and friends.
• Litchfield Farms Organic & Natural is the leader in a new “cultural sustainability” movement. Their products reflect the best practices in sustainable seafood, and recognize and supports local producers and communities. Think Slow Food meets fish!

Ø  BARE – paper products

• BARE is eco-friendly: renewable plates, compostable plates, recyclable cups and compostable cups.
• Plant-based renewable materials.
• Bare plates contain renewable resources
• Bare plates are made with post consumer recycled material

Other sources for provisions noted above, include:

• Source Local Produce : Glebocki Farms
• Partnership with Basis Foods – Sourcing local produce items from the Tri-State Area
• Partnership with Regional Access– Sourcing New York State Produce and Dry Goods
• Serving Stonyfield Organic Yogurt
• Snack Items provided by United Natural Foods– NY State Premier Natural Item Distributor
• Bread and rolls served in the cafeterias are from Rose & Joe’s, a local, family owned bakery in Queens.
• Sausage – Chicken and Pork from Faiccos on Bleecker Street

Other products and procedures of note:

• Eliminating canned foods – except canned tomatoes
• Soups made with vegetable based stocks
• Salad dressings are made in our kitchen.  The balsamic vinaigrette is amazing!
• Jorge’s ever popular hot sauce is homemade
• Eliminating Frozen Vegetables to stay within our seasonal based menus.
• All natural and organic snacks – distributed through the largest distributers of natural foods in the U.S. – United Natural Foods