Describe Tufts University Dining... Tufts University Dining is recognized nationally for our innovative programs, high-quality food, and warm and welcoming staff. We serve the Tufts community of nearly 5,000 undergraduates, 1,000 graduate students, as well as faculty and staff and guests on the Medford, Mass.-campus. Our two main dining halls, Carmichael and Dewick-MacPhie, offer continuous hours during the week with all-you-care-to-eat service for a set price. Hodgdon Good to Go, a take-out establishment on campus, services students' desire for fast, convenient food, offering a plethora of choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A coffeehouse, convenience store, library café, and a few additional dining venues provide creative, well-prepared cuisine throughout the day and night. How does turkey fit in with the scheme of your operation? Turkey is a lean, high-quality protein that is attractively priced, easy to prepare and versatile. Turkey provides us with a lean protein that is flavorful and meets the needs of our health-conscious customers. How do you currently menu turkey? Turkey is served in many different ways, but deli turkey for sandwiches is by far the most popular turkey item on our menus and is served at all dining venues. We offer both roasted and smoked varieties, with annual usage of approximately 13,000 pounds and 8,500 pounds, respectively. Our next most popular turkey entrée is the boneless breast, which we roast and slice to order on our carvery stations in our two main dining halls. Turkey is used in our Mandarin Turkey Stir-Fry, which is a dish that helps fit the growing demand for ethnic cuisine. At our annual Thanksgiving dinner, a semi-boneless turkey breast is used. Turkey steaks, which we purchase raw and marinate, are popular and typically charbroiled. To add variety to our menus and for ease of preparation, we purchase a variety of value-added products, including turkey tips both in Cajun and lemon and pepper varieties. Our nutrition-conscious customers appreciate the lean turkey breakfast sausages and bacon, which we offer on a rotating basis for breakfast and/or brunch. How does turkey help you compete with the growing number of dining options of which students can take advantage? A majority of our student population is looking for healthy meal options and turkey fits their desire for familiar, great tasting, nutritious, lean protein foods. Students know wherever they dine on campus, turkey sandwiches with various bread choices and condiments are available to them. What are the compelling points that make turkey adaptable for lunch and dinner dishes? Turkey is economical, versatile and easy to prepare. Because turkey is mild in flavor, it is adaptable to many ethnic preparations. Why do you think your patrons order these turkey items? Most importantly, students are familiar with turkey. Turkey will never be mistaken for mystery meat. Unlike chicken, which is frequently deep fat fried, turkey preparation methods enhance turkey's image of being high in protein and low in fat, thus enhancing its attractiveness. From a business perspective, why do you include turkey on your menu (food cost, versatility, consumer demand, etc)? Turkey is attractively priced, with boneless turkey steak comparable in cost to boneless chicken. As mentioned previously, by serving turkey, we are adding variety to our menus. Turkey is popular in everyway it is served, but a particular favorite comfort food is roasted boneless turkey served with butternut squash, whipped potatoes, bread stuffing and cranberry sauce. We have this meal weekly. When thinking about other proteins you serve why did you choose turkey for this menu item as opposed to chicken, beef or pork? Turkey is one of many protein foods we offer. Students on board plans tire easily of the same routine, so we try to provide as many protein options as possible. Turkey is one of many that are offered. With the recent push in the industry for healthy menu options, how does turkey help you meet this growing consumer demand? Our student customers are well versed on the nutritional virtues of turkey. We don't typically serve it with skin, so they know it is low in calories and fat, and high in protein. How do you use the web as a tool in your work? I use the web frequently in searching for recipes, especially ethnic recipes. I now am familiar with the National Turkey Federation web site and will refer to this site for turkey recipes in the future. Do you use the NTF web site as a resource? Until just recently, I was unfamiliar with this wonderful resource. I have added it to my recipe resource list. Back to top of page