It’s time to go wild with salmon, according to Penn Dining.
Each month the dining halls inform students about different ways to eat both healthy and environmentally friendly foods with Bon Appetit Food Management Company’s “Food for Your Well Being” program. This round has focused on the disadvantages of eating farm-raised salmon.
Thursday night, each dining hall served dinner made with environmentally sustainable fish. King’s Court English House Dining, Hill Dining and 1920 Commons served alternative seafood options like bay scallop chowder, balsamic California tuna sandwiches and seafood pizza, among other dishes.
Bon Appetit, which manages Penn’s dining halls, also served other seafood options throughout the week.
“Bon Appetit has been really diligent about the education component of diner’s food choices,” said Business Services Spokeswoman Barbara Lea-Kruger. By educating students, she added, Bon Appetit is helping them make healthy food choices elsewhere.
As a part of the educational component, Bon Appetit shared information about the drawbacks of farm-raised salmon at information tables throughout the week, said Terry White, the regional director of Bon Appetit.
The problem with farm-raised salmon, White explained, is that it creates a large amount of environmental waste. In addition, farm-raised salmon does not have the same nutritional value as wild salmon.
“We want to bring healthy food education to the individual guest,” she said. “We thought having events focused around a monthly topic would be a great way of educating students about healthy and environmentally conscious nutrition.”
Bon Appetit is offering sushi sampling in Houston Hall throughout the month to introduce students to new wild salmon sushi available for purchase. In conjunction, employees are handing out information cards with Monterey Bay Aquarium Guidelines that offer recommendations about environmentally friendly sushi options.
“Generally I am not one to try new foods, but I was impressed that Bon Appetit had samples for students to try,” said College junior Alex Ryu. “I also appreciated that they went out of their way to find information from knowledgeable sources about lunch options that use sustainable fish.”
Next month’s topic will be healthy portion sizes.
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