Collegiate dining gets sustainability nod
Skidmore College Dining Services was named a 'Best Choice Restaurant' by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch — the first collegiate dining program to win that recognition for sustainability and plant‑forward options The Saratogian. Separately, new research shows renaming plant‑based dishes with more attractive language significantly increases orders — an easy menu lever for chefs and operators The Irish Times.
Monterey Bay Aquarium unveiled the Seafood Watch Best Choice Restaurant Program on March 3, 2026, positioning it as a national mark restaurants can display to signal sustainability commitments. (seafoodwatch.org) Partners in the program must commit to offering at least one green‑rated, environmentally sustainable seafood dish on their menu, and Seafood Watch requires that every seafood listed in a marked dish comes from a green‑rated fishery or farm. (seafoodwatch.org) Skidmore’s Murray‑Aikins dining menu lists items such as orange ginger salmon, shrimp farfalle and pan‑roasted cod, and Executive Chef Michael Hinrichs framed sustainability as embedded in menus, vendors and student engagement. (skidmore.edu) Seafood Watch points to over 25 years of science‑based fishery and farm ratings behind its guidance, and the Best Choice program already includes independent restaurants and hotel groups such as The Market Place (Asheville) and Four Seasons properties. (seafoodwatch.org) A 2022 quasi‑experimental field study published in BMC Public Health measured a 43.9% increase in the amount of plant‑rich food taken per plate when basic dish names were replaced with systematically developed, appealing descriptors in a cafeteria setting. (link.springer.com) A subsequent University of Queensland paper in Food Quality and Preference found that highlighting flavour, texture and provenance in plant‑based dish names significantly raised stated appeal across samples, with examples like “Juicy American burger” used as persuasive naming tests. (sciencedirect.com) Skidmore’s dining operation already works with Seafood Watch to guide sourcing practices and features descriptive dish names on its menus — combining a Best Choice mark (every seafood ingredient green‑rated) with flavour‑forward language mirrors the two evidence‑based levers shown to change consumer selections. (skidmore.edu)
