Known for its progressive food-service practices, Bates has announced a pioneering partnership with the highly regarded nutrition navigation system Guiding Stars. First implemented in 2006 and now used in some 1,400 grocery stores, the science-based Guiding Stars system rates foods with zero to three stars highlighting items according to good, better or best nutritional value, respectively. The Bates partnership is Guiding Stars Licensing Company’s first with a college.

“At Bates, we believe strongly in nourishing mind and body by offering food that’s fresh, delicious and healthful,” said Christine Schwartz, director of Dining Services. “Guiding Stars lets us do that much more effectively — it gives our customers an easy guide to enhance their menu choices.”

While Sylvan Ellefson ’09 hasn’t banished sweets or Commons crispitos from his diet, he has honed an understanding of what his body needs to perform at peak level.

“I was definitely not conscious of eating a balanced diet my first year here,” says Ellefson, a Nordic skier from Vail, Colo., who won All-America honors at last year’s NCAA Skiing Championships. “But in the past two years I’ve really realized what it means.”

With the Bobcats hosting the 2009 NCAA Championships, March 11–14, and with Bates in the midst of its yearlong focus on food, Ellefson and his teammates have ample reason to make Bates Dining Services an honorary member of their team.

“Commons does a great job of providing us with the food we need for how we train,” Ellefson says.

For example, when the Nordic team travels during carnival season, their van carries Commons-provided snacks like granola, breads, fruits and yogurt for immediate post-race nutrition. “Your body recovers more quickly if you get food right after a race,” explains Nordic teammate Sam Evans-Brown ’09.

When it comes to establishing healthy food routines, the teammates support each other, says head coach Becky Flynn Woods ’89. “It’s about getting into the right habit. For example, the skiers racing later in the day will take time in the morning to prepare food, like PB&Js, for everyone to eat right after the races.”

Nordic skier and teammate Nicole Ritchie ’09, twice an All-American rower as well as a skier, has become conscious of her food choices for another reason. “A friend is doing a thesis that focuses on corn syrup,” she says. “I’ve been reading over her shoulder. The amount of energy going into producing corn syrup is pretty disgusting.”

Bates College Dining Services was one of two colleges to share a silver award in the 2005 Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards, presented annually by the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS).

Bates and Gettysburg College of Gettysburg, Pa., shared the second-place award in the “Catering — Special Event” category. Plaques were presented to the schools in July during the association’s annual conference, in New Orleans. This is Bates’ third Horton Award.

NACUFS is the national industry association for academic dining operations. Bates’ was one of 182 entries submitted for the Horton awards. “We’re very proud of what the award says about what our colleagues nationwide think of our operation, but also that we’re able to represent the college in such a favorable light,” says Christine Schwartz, director of Bates Dining Services.

Named for a NACUFS founder and former president, the Horton competition recognizes exemplary menus, presentations, special event planning and new concepts in college dining. Bates’ award was based on its work for the 2005 college Gala, which had the theme “A World Away!” Japan, India, Italy and Greece were among the nations represented in the Bates buffet.

Bates won a first-place ranking in the Horton awards in 2004 and a third place in 2003. The college is nationally recognized for its innovative approach to educational food service-practices, particularly in terms of environmental sustainability.

In 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited Dining Services in its “Best Management Practices for College and Universities” catalog. Dining Services received Renew America’s National Award for Sustainability in 1999 and 2000, and in 1999 received the Christopher and Dana Reeve Award for Environmental Leadership. In 2002, Farming magazine offered Bates as a model of institutional cooperation with local food producers.

In 2001, a Bates culinary team won a bronze medal in the Seventh Annual Governor’s Great Taste of Maine lobster recipe competition — the first time a collegiate dining team placed in the contest. The Bates entry, grilled lobster-stuffed crepes with baby shrimp hollandaise and fresh Maine blueberry and blackberry compote, placed third in a field of 100 recipes submitted by well-known dining establishments throughout the state.