SF State’s annual Farm to Fork Lunch drew in a crowd of nearly 300 patrons hungry to eat and learn about locally-sourced and sustainable foods last week in the quad.

As part of Ideas Week for Future State,  students and staff members purchased tickets for Tuesday’s lunch in the quad. Selections a number of different vegetarian options, three kinds of organic desserts and a variety of drinks including iced tea and fresh lemonade.

The 8th Farm to Fork lunch was organized this year by Caitlin Steele, sustainability and energy director for SF State’s Office of Sustainability and Nick Kordesch, a sustainability specialist.

The pair believes the event serves an important role in teaching the campus community about where to find local homegrown food and how to make more sustainable food choices in the future.

Angela Molina, 19, saw this as an opportunity to try new things and purchased the lunch using her SF State meal plan.

“If you can believe it, I’ve never tried cauliflower; that was a first for me today,” the kinesiology major said. “I normally have lunch in the dining center so it was nice to be outside in 75 degree weather.”

Environmental studies majors Myah Rivera and Amir Sahit also enjoyed sitting outside in the quad on blankets provided by the University.

“I think (Farm to Fork) promotes that locally sourcing your food is an option,” Rivera said. “It shows that SF State can implement this across their dining centers and food venues.”

“This event shows that you can have affordable, local, organic and healthy food provided to the campus body,” Sahit said. “It is possible and I think we can promote this more.”

Both students believe that the campus does offer a variety of vegetarian and vegan options but think more can be done to provide locally sourced foods.

“We do have a lot of unhealthy options here so this event is a good way to show that healthy food doesn’t have to be expensive,” Sahit said.

According to Kordesch explained that he and others are working across the board to address the challenges in providing the whole campus with sustainable food options every day.

“SF State is trying to provide sustainable and healthy options while keeping food affordable for student budgets,” Kordesch said. “It’s an ongoing process and the people that manage the Dining Center, the Vista Room and a lot of our other vendors are trying to figure out how to do it.”

Ideas Week, which also includes focus groups, open studio sessions and campus survey kiosks, runs through Friday and gives students the opportunity to help shape the future of SF State.

“We really love this event!” Kordesch said. “It’s fun to get everyone together to socialize and meet new people from other SF State departments. It’s about raising awareness about sustainable food but also about building community.”