Climate Kitchen

CK’s Sarra Talib shares her delicious tepache, made from upcycled pineapple skins recovered from UVM kitchens. This traditional Mexican fermented drink—crafted from pineapple skins, sugar, and spices—makes a perfect summer mocktail. Just add sparkling water to frozen tepache cubes. The result: a pretty, refreshing drink!

Alexis Yamashita, a Food Systems PhD candidate, and @uvmclimatekitchen are teaming up with @new_farms_for_new_americans to taste‑test mung beans and identify varieties that fit local taste preferences. Their “sensory sandwich” approach brings community voices into the research process. Learn more and watch the video by heading to the link in bio. 📸 : Colleen Goodhue #UVMResearch

🌿 Climate Kitchen x UVM Dining Services: A Circular Lunch Pop-Up ♻️🍽️
On November 4 & 5, Waterman Manor was transformed into a hub of creativity, sustainability, and delicious innovation! ✨ Guests enjoyed a seasonal, all-you-care-to-eat lunch that celebrated circular dining — with dishes made from local surplus produce, upcycled ingredients, and flavorful byproducts reimagined into something truly special. From the French Carrot Soup and Root Veg Panzanella to the Grilled Carrots with Carrot Top Pepita Pesto and Champlain Orchard Apple Bars, every bite told a story of resourcefulness and care. 🥕🍎 Big thanks to our incredible UVM Dining team and the Climate Kitchen collaborators who made this pop-up possible — and to everyone who joined us for two days of inspired, sustainable dining. 💚 Your energy and excitement remind us that food can be both a delicious experience and a force for good. 🌱 Together, we’re closing the loop, reducing waste, and redefining what sustainable dining looks (and tastes!) like. Here’s to more circular meals and creative conversations ahead! ♻️✨ Don’t miss our Waterman Manor Harvest Buffet on Tuesday November 18th! @uvmhousing @uvmclimatekitchen @universityofvermont @uvmecoreps @uvmofficeofsustainability @uvmsustainability @uvm_cals @uvm_rsenr @uvmslowfood #ClimateKitchen #UVMDining #CircularEconomy #SustainableDining #FarmToTable #UpcycledFood #LocalLove #CatamountEats #SustainabilityInAction

Climate Kitchen x UVM Dining Services: A Circular Lunch Pop-Up 📍 Waterman Manor 📅 Nov 4 & 5 🕦 Seatings at 11:30 AM & 12:30 PM 💵 All-you-care-to-eat buffet: $23.99 📞 RSVP: 802-656-4664 Join us for a seasonal, sustainable lunch featuring delicious dishes made with local surplus produce, upcycled ingredients, and creative use of byproducts — all crafted with circularity in mind. 🍽️♻️ Menu Highlights: 🥕 French Carrot Soup 🥗 Root Veg Panzanella w/ Maple Cranberry Vinaigrette 🌿 Grilled Carrots w/ Pepita Carrot Top Pesto 🥔 Chicken Schmaltz Potato Pave 🍗 Grilled Chicken w/ Swiss Chard Salsa Verde 🌱 Sumac-Infused VT Soy Tofu w/ Swiss Chard Salsa Verde 🍎 Champlain Orchard Apple Bars 🍫 Black Bean Cocoa Cookies Come hungry, leave inspired — and help us reimagine what sustainable dining can be. Tag your crew & spread the word! @universityofvermont @uvmecoreps @uvmofficeofsustainability @uvmclimatekitchen @uvmsustainability @uvm_cals @uvm_rsenr @uvmslowfood #ClimateKitchen #UVMDining #SustainableEats #CircularEconomy #FoodWaste #FarmToTable #VermontEats #LocalFood #ZeroWasteCooking

July brought us bee balm, mulberries, and aronia berries to work with in the kitchen. Team Food Forest learned how to make kombucha, built on a recipe for a locally-sourced version of an açaí bowl, and experimented with methods for preserving the summer bounty like fruit leather.

Thanks so much to all of our Climate Kitchen Summer Institute 2025 teams for sharing their process, lessons learned, and very tasty samples at our final workshop! One unifying theme of the presentations was how a systems approach and working with a variety of different collaborators can enrich the research process and lead to exciting new directions. We also heard a lot about the difficulty and ultimate reward of working through all the unexpected little challenges that come up when working in the food system and in the kitchen. We’re sad the 2025 Summer Research Institute is over, but we have some more posts to share in the coming weeks about the work these teams did in July and August and what comes next!

From pancakes to toasted groats, Team Buckwheat has been hard at work testing recipes, researching historical and agricultural practices, and reaching out to regional producers. And we’ve learned that there’s a lot of variation in commercially available buckwheat flours! We can’t get over how yellow the one brand looks — that color difference in the pancake better is coming entirely from the flour! 🟡🌼💛

Tasty and fiber-filled treats that make use of byproducts from local breweries? Yes, please! Team Circular Foods has been experimenting with different ways to incorporate apple pomace and spent grain into a variety of products. Bran muffins and pretzels have been the winners so far. We’re looking forward to seeing what else they come up with this summer!

Team Mung Bean has been cooking up some delicious dals this summer! They are testing recipes provided by their community partners to get ready for some tastings later this month. While they’ve been standardizing the recipe, they’ve also been testing different mung bean varieties to narrow down a community favorite. We can’t wait to taste the final results!

What if stressed out students could snack on ramen made from local and foraged ingredients? Team Food Forest spent June testing out recipes and techniques for homemade flavor packets and buckwheat noodles. They learned a lot and wound up with a tasty and good looking bowl.

Thanks so much to @vermontfilm and the Food Systems Research Institute for inviting us to host a discussion after the Food and Country documentary screening. It was a fascinating looking back into all of the issues in our food system that were highlighted by the pandemic, and a great discussion on how we can look forward to more systems based solutions that are sustainable to all.

The Climate Kitchen Summer Institute research teams have been hard at work these past few weeks getting started on their projects. Meet🫘Team Mung Bean, 🌳Team Food Forest, 🌾Team Buckwheat, and 🔄Team Circular Foods. We will be sharing progress the different teams are making each week throughout the summer, so stay tuned!