Creating Social Value Blog / Food

A Student’s Perspective on Sustainable Food at Babson

By Savannah Carlin, Babson Undergraduate Student.

Hello Babson food community!

I am Savannah Carlin, a first year here at Babson. I am passionate about social entrepreneurship, especially food sustainability and food access, though more than anything I love to cook and eat delicious food.

One of the things I love about Food Sol is its emphasis on action, especially on the way we, as individuals, can use every meal as a way to change our food system for the better.

This mentality rings particularly true for me, as I have been interested in where my food comes from since I began cooking at the age of fifteen. One of the first dishes I made was caprese salad with a farmers’ market tomato. The layers of flavor within the tomato alone were incredible; it was fragrant, sweet, acidic, and savory all at once. Along with fresh creamy mozzarella, rich olive oil, sour balsamic, and piquant basil, the salad managed to capture summer in every bite.

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The farm stand where Savannah found her perfect summer tomato.

I had never realized that I could make food that was so nourishing and delicious. I vividly remember going to the supermarket later that day, and for the first time, noticing the tomatoes. They were laying under fluorescent lights, pale and scentless, the sad cousins to my perfect farmers’ market tomato from earlier in the day. I immediately wanted to understand why the farmers’ market tomato was so much better, and why the supermarket tomatoes were so unlike them.

I watched Food Inc. soon after, and that led me to learn as much as I could about local food and how to support it. Here at Babson, I’m supporting more sustainable food in a few ways: choosing the foods I want to see more of in Trim (such as local produce, salad, and vegetarian options), going to farmers’ markets whenever I can, and getting involved in Food Sol.

How do you support sustainable food at Babson? As I start blogging, what would you like to hear about?

There is so much opportunity to bring more delicious, nourishing, and sustainable food to Babson, with every meal we can support it!