The Story of Crispy Golden Tofu

Abstract

Sustainability initiatives in higher education can flourish as the result of collaborations among those engaged in teaching, research, and operations. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), the Food Science Department and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies teamed up with Wisconsin Union Dining Services for such an initiative. Building on previous work that estimated carbon footprints for menu items at a popular campus eatery, Ginger Root, this article tells the story of a new menu item created with sustainability in mind. First, this article describes the rationale for the new dish. Second, it reports how the dish moved from a test kitchen to a commercial kitchen. Third, it explains why the recipe cannot be made public. Finally, it describes what makes this vegetarian dish unique and compares its carbon footprint to the current meat-based best seller at Ginger Root.