Choosing Healthy Foods

with campus executive chef Tom Barton Hi all! It’s quite busy around here and I wanted to let you know about a few of the things we have going on around campus. In January, we started doing Foodie Tours of each of our dining locations. These are in depth tours with our nutritionist Christine Clark and me. We select a dining location and go station-by-station talking about the back stories of how are menus are created, where we source many of our products from, and, in some cases, the science behind some of the things we do. We have received great feedback from the tours we have done and anticipate continuing this initiative next semester. They are open to all students, faculty, and staff and are – of course – free! We have also been busy planning for our upcoming Lobstah Night . We are happy to say that we will be working with Red's Best to obtain the 1,000 lobsters needed for this event. It is certainly one of the highlights of the school year so be sure to get to Stetson West ...

It is almost that time of year again. Educate Your Palate , our end-of-the-year culinary extravaganza, is now less than one week away! On Thursday, April 23 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, International Village Dining will be transformed into a completely redesigned dining space for a culinary adventure circling the globe! We can't divulge too many details – we wouldn't want to ruin the surprise after all – but we hope that you'll be able to take some time on your reading day to join us for a dinner that you won't soon forget. If you weren't able to come to last year's Educate Your Palate, dubbed A Spoonful of Spring (or just want to relive the event again), take a look at our photos from the event and check out the menu that was served, including locally harvested oysters, freshly pan-fried kimchi and tofu dumplings, and a carving station with grilled leg of lamb. We hope to see you there!

Hard to believe that it's already the middle of February – although it sure feels like the middle of winter with the recent (and upcoming) weather – but that means it is almost time for our first signature event of the spring semester. The event, our 14th annual Mardi Gras Celebration , is this Tuesday, February 17 from 8:00 to 10:00 pm in Levine Marketplace. We have lots of fun planning and executing this event but just what goes into transforming Stetson East into a miniature Bourbon Street? Well... Our main goal of the event is authenticity. When choosing menu items for the event, we look for recipes that we can produce in our kitchen both effectively – to honor the traditional Cajun recipes of New Orleans – and efficiently – since more than 600 guests are served in just two hours. We love serving classic New Orleans favorites including jambalaya, shrimp étouffée, and catfish po' boys but we also look for creative opportunities such as last year's pairing of traditional ...