Blended burgers take over college campuses

The blend movement--blending meat and mushrooms in burgers—is a  major trend heralded by a number of trailblazers and publications like Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, WebMD, SyscoShape, The Today Show, Food & Wine, USA Today and more. And now, the trend is moving onto college campuses.

College and university chefs are pioneers of sustainability in this country, and they have been early adopters of the blend movement in an effort to enhance sustainability and nutrition efforts. This blend movement is about making burgers better—better for the environment and better for our health. It’s everything C&U chefs stand for and it’s what The James Beard Foundation wants to recognize them for.

The James Beard Foundation is inviting all C&U chefs to join the James Beard Foun-dation's Blended Burger Project™ Campus Edition and be a part of this growing menu strategy to improve reduce carbon footprint and water usage and improve nutrition, all while still giving students the great flavor they want.

This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity that asks operators to develop their version of a blended burger using at least 25% mushrooms in their recipe, merchandise it to diners and encourage them to cast their vote for the blended burger on social media and on jamesbeard.org voting gallery.

The six colleges/universities with the most votes in their category (by size) will win a trip to cook at the historic James Beard House in 2018. There, chefs can showcase their talents and represent their college/university, in front of media and food influencers at a prestigious location. It’s an amazing opportunity and another great reason to register today.

Burgers are one of the top menu items and C&U chefs know that this is the perfect way to make a significant difference—for the health of students and other diners as well as the health of the planet. Beyond that, it’s a great way to experiment with new flavors and cre-ate delectable dishes. The Blended Burger Project™ Campus Edition is supported by Foodservice Director Magazine, one of the first publications to identify this trend. Win-ners will also have feature articles developed around their entire foodservice approach by FSD.

To participate, add a Blended Burger to your menu from Labor Day through De-cember 15, 2017 and visit www.jamesbeard.org/bbpcampus for more details about how to enter for a chance to win a trip to cook at the historic James Beard House in 2018.