Local foods on campus? This chef makes it happen

When Nadeem Siddiqui took over the Cornell University Dining Services in 1999, he wanted to know how much of the food came from local farmers. The answer was "not much," but his next question was "Why not?"

This innovative and successful food service director has been searching for good reasons not to serve locally grown foods ever since - and he hasn't found a good answer yet. In fact, within two years his operation was buying one-third of its food from New York farmers, processors and vendors. Cornell University serves about 27,000 meals every day.

Siddiqui came to Iowa State University to present his ideas at an April 4 forum, "From Farm to Fork," organized by the Leopold Center's marketing and food systems initiative.

In addition to the forum, the Leopold Center arranged a meeting for Siddiqui with leaders of ISU Food Service and Practical Farmers of Iowa to discuss challenges that currently prevent more locally grown food being served at ISU residence halls and the Memorial Union. Further discussions will be held when the new ISU Dining services director begins work in July.