CNN: Home recipes are on the menu in many campus dining halls

Parents Forum
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<p>So, how is the food at your S’s or D’s college dorm?</p>

<p>A taste of home at college has been catching on at big universities such as Yale and Harvard and small schools such as Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia, and Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo, California. Many colleges find this approach as a way to lend a little culinary flair to their cafeteria and relieve homesickness, too:</p>

<p>"Stung by decades of jokes about mystery meat and soggy sandwiches, college dining halls around the country are borrowing recipes from the ultimate authority on heartwarming meals: Mom. (And Dad, too.)…</p>

<p>“It’s a great connection with home for the students, and a way to de-institutionalize a college food service program,” said J. Michael Floyd, food service director at the University of Georgia…</p>

<p>Some experts say it is just the kind of idea that would appeal to college-age “Millennials,” members of the generation born after 1981.</p>

<p>William Strauss, co-author with Neil Howe of “Millennials Rising” and “Millennials Go to College,” said those young adults are more connected with their parents than previous generations.</p>

<p>“By and large, the parents come from a generation that looks back on their college years with a fair amount of positive reflection and happy memories,” Strauss said. “Serving those family meals is an example of a college finding a positive way for the kids and the parents to take advantage of the tighter student-family connections that we already see in this group.”</p>

<p>Mona Milius, dining director for the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, said parents feel more confident about the quality of the dining halls when they visit, try the food and submit their own recipes.</p>

<p>“The students are thrilled about it, the parents are thrilled about it, and we’re happy because we get new items to add to our menu,” Milius said.</p>

<p>At UConn, which solicited family recipes this year for the first time the Forzaglia family stroganoff won raves from students and college officials at a recent taste testing…</p>

<p>Rob Landolphi, UConn’s culinary supervisor, said that to be added to the school menu, a home recipe must appeal to students, be easy to replicate on a large scale and taste exactly as it does at home."</p>

<p><a href=“http://us.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/11/30/recipes.from.home.ap.ap/index.html[/url]”>http://us.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/11/30/recipes.from.home.ap.ap/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Well, I think my kids will want to go to college to get away from my cooking, but so be it if many Colleges find that this approach appeals to “college age Millennials”.</p>

<p>I think UConn has another culinary drawing card:</p>

<p>"Mention the UConn Dairy Bar and alumni often get misty-eyed with memories. Production manager Charlie Hatton has seen it many times, in the dreamy looks on the faces of returning graduates as they recount stories of meeting girlfriends, boyfriends and future spouses over milkshakes, cups and cones piled high with freshly made ice cream that made an indelible impression on the taste buds. Visiting parents and area residents also appear regularly with coolers to cart off a few half gallons, says Hatton, who is UConn’s ice cream-making master…</p>

<p>“With the exception of our graduates, UConn ice cream is probably the most well-known product that emanates from Storrs,” says Chancellor John Petersen.</p>

<p>“It makes perfect sense to offer another quality UConn product to residents statewide.”</p>

<p>It was sampling two hot fudge sundaes that got Hatton hooked as a high school student on a field trip to the Dairy Bar. He began working there part-time in 1972, while studying in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “I expected to stay six months and never left,” he says.</p>

<p>Dale Dreyfuss, UConn’s vice chancellor for business and administration, was instrumental in transforming the ice cream idea from concept to conveyer belt. In late 2000, he began discussing UConn ice cream with University President Philip E. Austin. A premium product with a wider distribution, he pointed out, could provide two direct benefits to the University: added resources for academic programs and increased visibility.
Ice cream cones</p>

<p>Cameron Faustman, chair of the department of animal science, realized help would be needed for such an expanded venture because the Dairy Bar didn’t have adequate production and distribution capabilities. The key would be to identify a partner to work with the Dairy Bar to produce ice cream that matched the quality found in Storrs.</p>

<p>Royal Ice Cream in Manchester, Conn., seemed a logical choice. Its production facility is close to the Storrs campus and it has a long history of working with Guida Dairy, a New Britain-based manufacturer and distributor of dairy products.
The group mulled over production information and packing design options before choosing and naming the eight flavors. They include original Dairy Bar favorites, such as Jonathan’s Supreme, a best-selling blend of chocolate covered peanuts in a vanilla base with peanut butter swirl, and new ones like Midnight Madness, a chocolate ice cream with black cherries, chocolate chips and malted milk balls colored orange, like basketballs.</p>

<p>Those flavors now are on sale at the UConn Dairy Bar, where Hatton is still producing another two dozen or so flavors that are only available on the campus. Coffee and black raspberry are among the current crowd pleasers, Hatton says, adding he currently has around three dozen active ice cream recipes to work with, but he’s always experimenting with new ones.</p>

<p>Packaging for the ice cream reflects its quality. The generic, rectangular cartons that have held UConn ice cream for decades have been updated to a four-color, oval carton that depicts a view of the campus from Horesbarn Hill and the Jacobson Barn.</p>

<p>The Dairy Bar has been in the same building for decades, however a renovation four years ago replaced its horseshoe-shaped counter, surrounded by stools, with a large bright space containing glass windows and tables. There still are lines on weekends, but there also are some enhancements, including a window where visitors can observe how ice cream is made and an interactive computer display with information about ice cream making. Meanwhile, the wider availability of Dairy Bar ice cream has alumni salivating.</p>

<p>“The Dairy Bar was just a short walk from our dorm,” recalls Lois Henrickson '72 (SFA), who visited frequently with classmates during the early 1970s. “With an ice cream cone in hand, we’d walk toward the barns to visit the baby piglets or gaze at the stars from a nearby field. The hard part was picking which flavor to try; they were all so delicious.”</p>

<p>So, for those who still recall their first visit to the Dairy Bar, the stroll down memory lane can be rekindled by a visit to the supermarket to pick up a container of UConn ice cream to evoke sweet memories."</p>

<p><a href=“http://uconnmagazine.uconn.edu/smmr2003/smmr03f3.html[/url]”>http://uconnmagazine.uconn.edu/smmr2003/smmr03f3.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;