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Sharing the Story Behind OSU Dining Services
Sharing the story BEHIND THE MEAL PART OF OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY’S DINING EXPERIENCE
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“Food tastes better when there’s a story behind it.”
This is a phrase that Zia Ahmed uses all the time and for a good reason. As senior director of dining services at The Ohio State University, he oversees 30 dining facilities across five campuses, which serve more than 10 million customers annually. That’s a lot of meals and a lot of opportunity to ramp up not only the dining experience but educate diners about where their food comes from. Over the years, he’s found that consumers resonate more with their food and how it’s raised if they know where it comes from and who takes care of the animals and plants. “The generation we serve today on college campuses is more disconnected than ever before with where their food comes from. Their connections are often superficial and it’s our job to do everything we can to connect them with the food system so they can be more informed,” he said. Zia said many people take pause when he says there’s a disconnect with today’s generation and their food. What about all the Tweets and Instagram and Facebook posts about people sharing their joy of food? Isn’t that a connection, they ask. Yes, but those connections are only at the surface level and not at the core, he tells them. There’s so much more, and they’re only sharing the end product. It’s important to also share and learn about what happens before the meal ends up on the plate. “Our global food system has evolved over thousands of years and is more complex than ever before. Our ultimate goal is to create informed consumers. They will someday be in policy making decision positions whether it’s in government or as a doctor or nurse or dietitian. They’re making informed decisions and knowing the whole story is what’s going to make our food system better,” he said. “The greatest way to connect them with their food system is by telling stories that are real and authentic and emphasize that without the food system that humans are not going to exist.” As a land grant university, Ohio State has an obligation to educate the public about their food, Zia said. He recently seized on this philosophy when he met with more than 400 resident assistants going through training. During their lunch, he overheard conversations about how delicious the watermelon was. He told them that what made the watermelon so special was that it was grown just down the road at Ohio State’s Waterman Farm. “Everyone was like ‘Wow, we didn’t know there was a farm here.’ You should have seen their faces – they were amazed,” he said. What was even more amazing to Zia was how few people have ever been on a farm. Born and raised in Bangladesh, he was around agriculture all the time there and was surprised that wasn’t the case in Ohio and many places throughout the United States. Determined to turn that around, he started visiting Ohio farms and meat processing facilities to see firsthand how the food served in the college cafeterias is raised and processed. He brought along with him chefs, stu-
Story by Amy Beth Graves
dents and other food service employees. It was an educational process not only for them but him. He was surprised to learn when he visited a soybean farm with Ohio Cattlemen’s Association Executive Director Elizabeth Harsh that some Ohio soybean growers plant high oleic soybeans, which are lower in saturated fat and higher in the beneficial monounsaturated fatty acids. A favorite site to visit is Atterholt Farms in Wooster, which has a Certified Angus Beef operation. Mandy Atterholt, who graduated from Ohio State in the animal science program, helps organize the tours and Zia jokingly tells the groups that not only does she grow food in Ohio but she’s a “farm raised product.” “I’ve taken many students and dining staff members to Mandy’s farm and I’ve been taken aback that so many people have never stepped foot on a farm. It’s not their fault but up until then they’d never taken the time to learn what it takes to grow food,” he said. “It’s so inspiring to see them pick up the animal feed and smell it and be around the animals and learn what it takes to nurture those animals. They learn how well these animals are taken care of. I get to watch it all unfold before my eyes and see that moment when they connect with their food. It’s a true epiphany.” It’s not just Ohio farms that Zia has visited along with students and dining staff. Because the food system is globally connected, trips are made around the United States and around the world to gain a better understanding of that connection. “We’re not going to survive if we’re not globally connected,” he said. “We export a lot of our food and it’s important to know why. For example, why is fish from Cape Cod leaving the country? Why are we importing beef from Australia? These aren’t bad things – we’re just trying to get that understanding.” That type of knowledge taps into some of Ohio State’s core values, Zia said. Having 100 percent transparency in the university’s food system is critical. “While our food system is complex, we need to be able to confidently say what we do and don’t know,” he said. “If somebody is saying they’re not willing to share information about food, that’s not acceptable. If you don’t know something then you need to find out more.” A goal that never changes is identifying and creating healthy meals that are popular with students, staff and visitors. A new addition is a brisket bagel that’s been so popular that it’s now available daily. Sustainability is also a goal and dining staff have started exploring ways to use the entire animal instead of just select cuts. Proposals to have “meatless Mondays” are ones that Zia is constantly shooting down. When it’s suggested that meat is unhealthy, he quickly counters by asking for science-based data showing it’s unhealthy. As he notes, the key is having a balanced meal and excluding meat is not healthy. “It’s overconsumption that’s unhealthy,” he said. “There needs to be a better balance and we really want to promote that balance and not support extreme views. This is not a sport – there’s space for everybody. I tell people ‘How would you feel if we had a veggie less Tuesday?’ At the end of the day, we need to be curious and not judgmental.”
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