Sometimes, locavorism can almost seem like hysteria. And sometimes, it’s just plain confusing — as in the case of the recent drop of Rookie’s Root Beer from the University of Vermont’s dining options.
Burlington-brewed Rookie’s is no longer on tap at Brennan’s, UVM’s “local and organic dining destination,” where a wall map lists the various farms and producers that populate the menu. Why?
“Rookie’s Root Beer is a local, Vermont company, but to be considered local by Real Food Challenge standards, products must include at least 50 percent local ingredients,” writes Caylin McKee, UVM’s dining sustainability and social media coordinator, in an email.
In March 2012, UVM became one of the first schools to commit to the Real Food Challenge, a national campaign to shift $1 billion in higher-ed food expenditures to local, “real” options by 2020 — that means foods that are “local, ecologically sound, humane and/or fair,” as McKee writes.
“Because of the nature of Rookie’s product, the main ingredient being sugar, they do not meet the 50 percent requirement,” she adds.
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Come on UVM! A company from Maine and fricken’ Coca-Cola somehow meet the “local” standards but not a company located a few miles from campus? Something’s rotten here. In case you’ve forgotten, UVM represents Vermont and has a responsibility to Vermont. Rookies is as local as local can get. You should be working with Rookies to find their niche not playing politics over kick-backs and sponsorship deals.
Rookies is as local as it gets UVM. This is a disappointing choice by a community leader, I though UVM was a about local business and the Burlington community not about pushing a higher priced lesser quality product on its students.
If UVM chooses a company from Maine over a local company, shouldn’t we rename the school University of Maine (VT campus)
Really? Coke is legit and Rookies isn’t? Welcome to Monsanto U, corporate sponsorships welcome.
Not content to control how students think, live and learn, we must now control their diets. The modern university is a facism factory.
Screw the Real Foods Challenge… not everything has to be some grand national pledge/challenge/comittment
Just serve Vermont stuff if that’s what they want to do..and screw sodexo too
Does it really surprise anyone that all the english, history, and sociology majors cloistered in the Ivory Tower believe they should control what we can think, say, and do? After all, they’re much smarter than everyone else. Most of them have never lived outside academia. I have a liberal arts university professor in my extended family and she’s essentially a liberal social fascist. As are all her academic friends and colleagues. It’s groupthink. She actually doesn’t believe that conservative views should be allowed to be expressed on campus. Why? “Because they’re wrong.” This has been going on for years. Get with the program, Tim!
The fact that UVM has a “dining sustainability and social media coordinator” says it all.
That’s where our tuition and tax dollars are going, to pay for “dining sustainability” and “social media coordinating.”
I was crestfallen this year when I went into Brennan’s, asked for a Rookie’s Root Beer, and was told that it was no longer being served. There is nothing worse than craving something all summer, feeling the deep-rooted satisfaction that comes from finally being able to fulfill it, and then being coldly denied my Rookie’s.
Also, I’d rather have a 40% VERMONT local product from a small business based out of Burlington than 70% MAINE product that uses all domestic ingredients. Local businesses are more important. Especially if their products are delicious.
Who are you to question the dining sustainability and social media coordinator?
As is with all things these days…much ado about nothing. Rookie’s, I’m sure, is tasty. But, sounds to me like it’s an over-priced pain in the ass. And UVM chose to use a flimsy excuse instead of being brutally honest. What is the cost difference between the one made down the street and the other? No mention…
Someone who pays tuition and deserves an opinion.
I think it’s because Maine Root is fair trade and therefore real, but Rookies doesn’t use local ingredients so can’t be considered real.
This is ridiculous. They use Coke because they provide a machine? Is Coke a “Real Food” product? Is the “real food” challenge the only circumstance in which UVM will use a local, Vermont product? Is the “Maine Root” root beer made differently somehow? Why would we prefer a Maine product over a Vermont product, anyway? No wonder its confusing for the Rookie folks; it doesn’t make any sense.
It sounds like they made a business decision and couched it in other language, for no apparent good reason. The whole “Real Food” marketing campaign really needs to be considered, anyway. My first reaction (I work on campus) was – have I not been getting real food this whole time? What about the other 20 percent of the food they have, is that not real?
One thing those crazy humanities majors might have over you though? The ability to define “fascism.” The fact that you would describe someone as a liberal social fascist suggests that you’re just throwing out labels of things someone told you not to like, without any real understanding of what they mean.
You don’t know my relative. I do.
But you’re right. I shouldn’t have used the word fascist. I should have used the word authoritarian. And, yes, she is very much a liberal intolerant authoritarian.
And, yes, I stand by my comment that many of her professorial colleaguse in the ivory tower, whom I’ve met, are just like her. They don’t believe that conservative opinion belongs on campus.
So I’ll stand by the gist of my original post, thank you.
I didn’t make any comment that would require me to know your relative. The components of the phrase “liberal social fascist” are incompatible; and you haven’t fixed the problem by substituting authoritarian. Liberal and authoritarian are not simply incompatible, they are virtually antithetical. One cannot be both. Perhaps you should just stick with interolant; maybe strictly partisan? I know, accurate use of the language is the domain of humanities majors, and what a useless body of knowledge that clearly is.
Well, I’m sorry, I disagree. One can be “politically correct” AND authoritarian, i.e., believe that non-politically correct views should not be allowed to be expressed. Welcome to Vermont.
I don’t think you disagree, you just don’t really understand. You said liberal, not politically correct. Look up the meaning of the word liberal, the meaning of the word authoritarian, and you might see what I mean when I say one person can’t be both. If you come with a new version of what you meant to say in each reply, I guess eventually you will find a formulation that makes sense. It doesn’t really matter either way to me!
Maine Root is Fair Trade, and therefore considered Real. That wasn’t made clear in the article. Rookie’s doesn’t use enough local ingredients to be considered Real by the Real Food Challenge standards, which are pretty rigorous, which is why the goal is 20%. The other 80% is just not humane, fair, ecologically sound or local.
Not humane? Are they making it from ground up puppies? THOSE BASTARDS!
When the “rubber hits the road”, UVM doesn’t really give a rat’s ass about Burlington, Vermont and the local economy. If they did, they would have created and required on campus housing over thirty years ago.
Hmmm read this and have a few questions for the reporter and her editor. I.s this a case of a local business that s s dissed or did Rookies make an effort to meet the standards of the Real Food Challenge? Tis is root beer , right? So the main ingredient is sugar . Unless Rookies makes its root beer with maple syrup, they are buying sugar from somewhere. Is it organic? Is I it at let Fir Trade Certified? To the reporter : where was your investigation? What are the standards of the challenge. ? How did each company rate ? What are the steps Rookies needed to take and why did they decline? Why was Rookies not willing comply with the challenge ? It’s just lazy reporting to blame the University and Caylin McKee. Criticism is cheap and free . Investigating the real story requires effort and taking hard positions. I mean how hard is it for Rookies to replicate the Maine competitor’s sourcing. This isn’t rocket science. Good reporting is skeptical of whining complaints and focuses on the real story line: is Rookies truly locally sourcing or just a local company making no effort to go organic or fair trade. A Burlington zip code is just not enough? Walk the talk Rookies. Figure out why you lost and then figure out how to win. Kudos to McKee for challenging a local company to get with the program
Housing has more then doubled over the past 10-15 years…and they do require on campus housing for freshman and sophomores.
while it is nice that Rookies picked up Middlebury College as a customer just think of the additional revenue they could generate if they could qualify for a fair trade badge on their label. It is far too easy to falsely take aim at people who are just trying to do the right thing. I for one applaud Miss McKee and UVM for holding companies to a higher standard.
Maybe Vermont ought to hold UVM to a higher standard: buy local and cut the PC bullshit. 😉
Things like fair trade prove that you care about people and environment beyond your community.
Bill, I respect your point but I disagree on the particulars.