Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Use Of And Interest In Ancient Grains In Northeastern Institutional Kitchens, Jg Malacarne, Cheryl Bilinski, Bruce Wyatt, Kevin Leavitt

School of Economics Faculty Scholarship

We report on a survey of institutional kitchens in the Northeast, seeking to better understand the extent to which institutions currently use locally produced grain products and what barriers they face in increasing their use of local grain products. We focus additional attention on local, organic grains, and ask specifically about a set of “ancient” grains: barley, einkorn, farro, rye, and spelt. Results indicate that current use of these products is extremely low. Familiarity with the grains in question, both by kitchen staff and their customers, emerges as a first-order barrier to expanding use of ancient grains in institutional kitchens. …