Local Foods Friday: NC State Dining’s homegrown approach to sustainable sourcing
Every Friday, NC State Dining offers students a taste of some of the area’s best local foods, featuring fresh produce and quality proteins from local vendors around North Carolina. Since the series began in 2023, Local Foods Friday has become an exciting feature of the department’s commitment to sustainable dining practices and supporting local businesses.
Local Foods Friday was born out of an effort to more effectively share Dining’s purchasing habits with customers, emphasizing the importance of local sourcing. Keith Smith, director of board operations and sustainability, works behind the scenes to ensure these local products make it to the table.
“I work with the chefs, the unit general managers, and our purchasing specialist to identify opportunities and build vendor relationships,” Smith said. “I help in unifying the orders across the dining centers so we can get the product in from these vendors.”
When it comes to selecting vendors, NC State alumni are the key ingredient. “We make an effort to work with vendors that include NC State graduates and offer their food options,” Smith said. “We love to highlight how our alumni are making an impact in the food industry.”
Among Dining’s frequently featured vendors are Ryan Speckman and Lin Peterson of Locals Seafood and Preston Chandler of Chandler Foods, all NC State graduates helping to keep students fed. Other local vendors featured on Fridays include Shipley Farms Signature Beef and Carolina Classics Catfish.
For fresh produce, Dining largely relies on NC State’s own Agroecology Education Farm. Since partnering with the farm in 2013, dining has consistently featured the farm’s fresh vegetables in menus across campus and has supported its mission to educate students about sustainable agriculture.
In addition to Local Foods Friday, NC State Dining also showcases locally sourced foods in its bookend events: the All Carolinas meal each fall and the Farm Feast each spring. These events invite students, faculty and staff to celebrate and enjoy a wide variety of fresh, local foods.
“Local Foods Friday has had a great impact on our community,” Smith said. “It’s enabled us to be much more purposeful in highlighting dining’s role in the local food industry.”