Monday, December 17, 2007

Pelosi leads the House to go organic in its cafeterias

The House is getting a food service makeover as part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "Green the Capitol" Initiative (speaker.gov/newsroom/reports?id=0019). Out go the yucky, conventional, sweetened and fatty servings, and in come locally grown, grass-fed and organic Berkeley-style cuisines.

OLD MENU
-- Salad bars with canned and conventional vegetables, iceberg lettuce and processed ranch dressing
-- Conventional beef hamburgers with processed cheese, often served cold
-- A special fried food bar
-- Soggy vegetables drowning in butter
-- Barbecue with corn and coleslaw
-- Custards, pies and cakes with fake whipped cream toppings
-- French fries (known under Republican rule as "freedom fries")
-- Plastic and Styrofoam containers

NEW MENU
-- Composed salad tossed to order with choice of seasonal vegetables and proteins with house-made vinaigrette over a warm grilled Focaccia bread
-- Roasted chicken with fire-roasted tomatoes and goat cheese
-- Cedar-plank wild salmon with apple cilantro relish
-- Seared barramundi (fish), white beans and tomatoes with thyme
-- Smoked salmon, roasted beets and arugula
-- Steamed broccoli, Brussels sprouts, sage roasted butternut squash, herb couscous
-- Samplings from Indian, Chinese, Greek, Moroccan and Mexican cuisines
-- Locally made Gifford's Ice Cream from a 70-year-old Washington institution

OTHER ITEMS
-- Fair Trade coffee
-- Sustainable seafood
-- Local and organic food choices
-- Zero trans-fat cooking
-- Cage-free shell eggs
-- Compostable disposables
- Carolyn Lochhead

No comments: