There's a room off to the right of the Student Center.
It's got clear glass and three doors. Inside works a number of staff dedicated to changing the way we eat on this campus, in particular, Glenn Loughridge and Rosa Cantrell.
In Lupton Hall's newest restaurant, Plains to Plate, hardly anything goes into the kitchen premade, according to Emil Topel, senior executive chef for Auburn University.
Most of the ingredients: cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, cream and sausage, all come from local sources.
People working in the industries this institution is built on now feed this institution.
Cantrell, intern with Loughridge and leader of the on-campus organization Real Food Challenge, uses her agricultural communications degree to talk to the people who grow the food she and others now eat.
"It's more than just mindlessly eating," Cantrell said.
The Real Food Challenge began, in 2011, under Rosco Davis, an Auburn alumni.
I had the chance to interview Davis many times throughout his journey with Real Foods.
Davis inspires.
His group, they're a dedicated bunch, determined to change the way we eat, determined to see a difference in this school.
This 2014 group defines their success. Members are active. Change is apparent. Success is evident.
Real Food strives to integrate food that is local, ecological, fair and humane. It's a godly practice, logical even. Know what you eat. It's simple, matter-of-fact and wildly ignored.
But with Plains to Plate, Loughridge and Cantrell exemplify that, well, they're winning.
Walking in to this new spot, what's in those bins, the name of the family that raised them, ultimately killed them and sold them for you to ingest and sustain you through your day, hangs on the walls, for you to read and know.
Incredible.
Honestly, since I found out, I haven't eaten anywhere else. Why would I? It smells so good, just being around there.
When I sat around a table outside the new Plains to Plate with Cantrell, Topel and Loughridge, I made a comment, as us journalists do:
"It just tastes so good."
Topel, with a laugh and head shake, simply shrugged his shoulders to say, "Yeah."
We all laughed. It's logical; it tastes better, because it is better.
Not that hard.
So before you put this paper down, give props to Real Foods, Loughridge and the clan behind dining services. They are changing the face of this campus.
Topel told me about an idea he had, for when it gets warmer. He has idea to hang rosemary on the fence around the Plains to Plate dining area to grow outside and use inside.
Imagine this, it's 2:30, mid- April, just getting good outside.
The woman who just made your sandwich walks outside with a pair of garden shears and chops at the rosemary bin in front of you.
Like she did this morning.
Like she put on the sandwich you're about to bite down on.
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