Yale Sustainable Food Project records

The Yale Sustainable Food Project was founded in 2001 by Yale students, faculty, and staff, President Richard Levin, and chef Alice Waters. The Sustainable Food Project directs a sustainable dining program at Yale, manages an organic farm on campus, and runs diverse programs that support exploration and academic inquiry related to food and agriculture.

In 2003, the first student interns broke ground on Edwards Street and transformed a brambly acre of Farnam Gardens into a productive market garden, now known as the Yale Farm. That summer, they harvested the Farm's first crop and began selling their produce at the New Haven farmers' market. Today, the Farm is a place where students, staff, and area residents gather to eat, work, and learn. It's also a national model for student farms on college campuses and market gardens in urban landscapes.

The year 2003 also marked the inauguration of the Berkeley College dining hall as a test kitchen for serving local, seasonal, and sustainable food to Yale students on a daily basis. The test kitchen demonstrated that it is possible to serve a sustainable menu in all of Yale's colleges. In response to overwhelming student support, the Project was expanded in 2004 to incorporate sustainable food in the menus of all college dining halls. In 2006, they were able to end Berkeley's role as a pilot and begin bringing a greater percentage of sustainable food to each of the colleges. All the college dining halls now serve the same menu, and you can find sustainable food in each of them, at every meal.