Bringing green to students' fridges

Local farmers selling organic fruit and grass-fed beef will transform the plaza outside Firestone Library into a makeshift market on Tuesdays this fall.

The Greening Dining Group, a partnership between Princeton University Dining Services and Greening Princeton, has teamed up with several campus offices to organize the farmer's market in an effort to educate the University community on organic eating, local produce and environmental sustainability.

Co-coordinators of the market Kathryn Andersen '08 and Ruthie Schwab '09 hired local farmers and vendors who use sustainable practices to sell their produce. Local produce is preferable to food that has been transported many miles for reasons including freshness, energy conservation and stimulation of the local economy, Andersen said.

To appeal to students without access to kitchens, the market will offer ready-to-eat items like sandwiches, Andersen said. The farmers will also sell organic fruits and vegetables, beef and lamb, free-range eggs, cheese, bread, baked goods, ice cream and coffee.

"The market will build upon [the University's] previous relationship with the community," she said, explaining that the market will promote direct campus and community interaction. "The community can see the cool things that Princeton does, and Princeton can support local farmers."

The organizers targeted independent students when planning the market because it is very difficult for students to travel to a grocery store without a car, Andersen said. This market will provide them a convenient way to get fresh food without having to travel to U.S. Route 1.

As an independent student herself, Schwab said she is excited to utilize the market to purchase food.

Andersen said she hopes the market will also foster social interaction in the University community. It is meant to be a "gathering spot," she said, "where people can see friends and professors" while sampling local tastes and learning about environmentally responsible eating.

Support nonprofit student journalism. Donate to the ‘Prince’. Donate now »

The Office of Sustainability and the Princeton Environmental Institute will have tables at the market to educate the local and student communities about what campus groups are doing to increase sustainability.

Planning for the event started two years ago, when Dining Services Director Stu Orefice told Andersen that Brown University had hosted a farmer's market. Andersen said she has also spent time in France and Italy, where such markets are commonplace, and wanted to recreate that experience the University.

Dining Services will be sponsoring the event by sending a chef each week to perform a demonstration on how to cook food, as well as by giving away organic cotton bags that say "Greening Princeton Farmer's Market" to the first 200 shoppers the first week.

Schwab and Andersen found some vendors through a course they took together, ENV ST02: Farm to Fork. A local chapter of the sustainability organization Northeast Organic Farming Association also helped them find contacts.