ATLANTA -- Oglethorpe University’s students, faculty and staff will partner with Bon Appétit Management Company and take part in the Eat Local Challenge on October 3 in the Emerson Student Center. Oglethorpe’s dining hall, run by Bon Appétit, will serve a lunch made entirely of ingredients from within a 150-mile radius of the university.

As Oglethorpe University head chef Robert Garrett and 400 other Bon Appétit chefs in 29 states are preparing for the second annual Eat Local Challenge, they are discovering that eating local is less a struggle than a treasure hunt.

Bon Appétit Management Company, an onsite custom restaurant company for corporations, colleges and universities and specialty venues, launched the Eat Local Challenge in 2005 to raise awareness about where the food on our plates comes from, the importance of local versus organic and the impact of ‘food miles’ – the distance food travels from the farm to the dining table.

“Local farms should be considered a treasure,” said Guy McKay of Butterbrook Organic Farm. “More and more people are becoming educated about the difference between a local farmer and a large scale conventional farmer. Still, if there is to be a bright future for small farms, we will need to have the support of companies like Bon Appétit.”

Through the Eat Local Challenge, Bon Appétit hopes to illustrate the consequences of food choices for the local economy and inspire support for small-scale, local farmers. As consumers find it increasingly hip to shop at farmers’ markets, Bon Appétit proves that eating local is also possible on a much larger scale: at corporations, universities, museums, theatres and other specialty venues.

“It can be hard to understand why we shouldn’t eat raspberries in the winter,” Bon Appétit CEO Fedele Bauccio added, “but we hope that when our guests taste foods at the peak of ripeness, produce that has been harvested nearby within days, or even hours, maybe it will click: This is how food is meant to taste.”