Canteen in Leewarden; Sustainable catering is possible!

A few weeks ago I visited ‘Canteen’, the sustainable canteen of Van Stenden College (Hogeschool) in Leeuwarden.

A couple of years ago masterchef Albert Kooy transformed the canteen into an entirely new concept.

The concept includes the following:

-          Most of the food is cooked on site in the Canteen kitchen.

-          The idea of having 80% vegetables and 20% meat instead of the other way around. Kooy indicates that in much of cuisine one sees a large amount of meat and vegetables as a side dish, he wants to turn this around and pay more attention to vegetables.

-          Much of the food served is organic.

-          E-numbers and MSG: When he started on the canteen concept Kooy got rid of all the mono-packaged products and all products which contain additives (E numbers, MSG). Kooy complains about the artificial additives present in much of the regular food supply for catering. He sees especially MSG as something which distorts our taste for food, and he points to the evidence that these ingredients are bad for human health. He would like people to know what food really tastes like.

-          Taste: Choosing to cook without additives has everything to do with developing a good sense of taste, and keeping food free of additives which are harmful for the body. Kooy indicates that users had to get used to the taste of the authentic food served in Canteen, since the food production and processing techniques used are different from a lot of food people are used to eating.

-          Seasonality and near-sourcing: Kooy wants to keep to the seasons as much as possible, and makes use of produce which comes from the region, like the Wadden Sea. But he does not see the need to drive locality to extremes, he sees The Netherlands as the region from which he want to source produce. One example of seasonality in Canteen: Instead of serving tomato and salad (out of season) with a burger, Kooy serves his with a white cabbage salad.

-          Meat: Kooy tries to use more pork and poultry and less beef, as the formers two score better on CO2 emissions.

-          Vegetables: Vegetables are to a large degree seasonal, and from The Netherlands (‘de koude grond’). He also works with vegetables/herbs from outside NL since he makes Asian and African meals as well.

-          International food: Van Stenden College has many international students and so meals need to be adapted to fit this clientele.

-          Drinks: Kooy has cancelled all soft drinks, except for an organic coke and a kind of seven up drink. The idea again is to eliminate as much unhealthy food and drink as possible. Other drinks served are self-made fresh juices and smoothies. Coffee is supplied by Peeze. Water is not bought in plastic bottles, instead in Canteen bottles tap water in attractive glass bottles, and adds gas for fizzy water. In this way Kooy wants to avoid the water-miles and plastic which comes with bottled water. His idea is that since the tap water is very good why import it from another region/country?

-          Bread: is made according to traditional recipes. Kooy found a baker who could supply bread where no additives are used like for instance flour improving agents (meelverbeteraars).

-          The canteen makes use of recycled/recyclable plastic.

-          The canteen ‘buffet’ consists of 5 outlets:

o   -‘It’s only bread’; fresh roles with toppings and soup

o   ‘Coffee shop’; smoothies, cakes, coffee and tea

o   ‘Made in Europe’; eg. pizza’s, kroketten, pancakes

o   ‘East meets west’; wok meals, noodles, meat and vegetarian sauces

o   ‘Out of Africa’; mostly North-African style food like falafel, and without pork

-          Education: Kooy wants students to learn to cook vegetables well, making vegetables the centre of a meal and not meat. Enhancing cooks’ skill and knowledge on how to cook vegetables has environmental and health benefits. It also means changing an entire culture where meat is the primary focus of a plate of food. Students from Hotel Management Studies do praticals in the Canteen kitchen. This means that future catering managers are trained in food preparation within the sustainable canteen concept.

-          Service: The canteen is open all afternoon (i.e. the food is available all afternoon) and in the evening there is a plate du jour with a choice of three warm meals.