Unity College Dining Services has announced that it will hold the fifth annual Hunters & Huggers Dinner on September 28 in Wyman Commons from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The dinner is a nod to Unity’s focus on sustainability, which includes buying local.
Much of the food for the dinner will be provided by Crown of Maine Co-Op in Vassalboro. Also, the venison is from Appelgate Deer Farm in West Newfield.
The general public is invited to attend the dinner. The price is $8 per person. For additional information contact Lorey Duprey at (207) 948-3131, ext. 264 or e-mail lduprey@unity.edu.
“It is very important for dining services to serve the highest percentage of locally obtained foods possible,” noted Lorey Duprey, Assistant Dining Services Manager.
Though dining services keeps a focus on buying local year round, including harvesting produce from several college owned gardens, the Hunters & Huggers dinner is special.
Duprey notes that the dinner is a capstone of sorts, bringing together the best of Maine ingredients regularly served for a special feast that students praise and arrive early to secure their favorite seats in the cafeteria.
The name of the dinner is a nod to Unity’s unique past and present. It is an environmental college that is steeped in Maine’s outdoor hunting traditions but which also includes a good number of students who are focused on preservation.
“We have a 360 degree approach to environmental thought here at Unity College, so it is entirely appropriate to draw the title of this special dinner from the tongue-in-cheek ‘Hunters & Huggers’ stereotype,” noted Duprey. “In truth, all environmental perspectives are embraced at Unity College as part of a daily dialogue about the environment and sustainability.”
Far from being a one department event, planning for the dinner involved Sara Trunzo ’08, Food and Farm Projects Coordinator, along with input from student groups. Decorations for the dinner were solicited from across the campus community.
“People from our community have offered many different kinds of props for us to incorporate into this dinner, things like old hunting and fishing gear, canning equipment, farming equipment, old food tins, and even an ice cream maker,” said Duprey.
Each month dining services at Unity College holds a theme dinner, but of them all, Duprey counts the Hunters & Huggers dinner as her favorite.
“There is something so uniquely Maine about having a dinner to celebrate locally produced foods,” noted Duprey. “My grandparents on my mother’s side were dairy farmers in Clinton, Maine, so from early on I developed an appreciation for the hard work, commitment, and love that goes into farming.”
The Menu for this year’s Hunters & Huggers dinner is:
Tomato Bruschetta
Assorted Maine Cheeses
Roast of Venison
Local Beef Chili
Lobster Newburg
Vegetarian Beet Feta Stackers
Vegan Stackers
Roasted Red New Potatoes
with Smokey Paprika
Ginger Honey Glazed Carrots
Local Breads
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Pound cake w/ Rhubarb sauce
Maple Creams
Unity College is a small private college in rural Maine that provides dedicated, engaged students with a liberal arts education which emphasizes the environment and natural resources. Unity College graduates are prepared to be environmental stewards, effective leaders, and responsible citizens through active learning experiences within a supportive community.
In 2010, Unity College was named to the top 30 of the Washington Monthly college rankings, and was one of eighteen U.S. colleges and universities named to The Princeton Review’s Green Rating Honor Roll.
