Local vendors arrived at the College Center in droves on Nov. 4 to partake in Tasty Tuesdays, a new program run by the Vassar Student Association (VSA) that invites restaurant owners to sell their food at the College Center once a week.
Though students can already pick up local produce from the farmer’s marketplace one day each week, Tasty Tuesdays offer complete meals from a different set of restaurants.
Food from local vendors was also sold in the College Center at the Meet Me in Poughkeepsie event on Oct. 10.
“After Meet Me in Poughkeepsie, we sat down to discuss how to continue the energy from the event,” said VSA President Jimmy Kelly ’09. He explained that students reported that they loved the vendors at Meet Me in Poughkeepsie, so the VSA decided to bring the vendors to campus on a regular basis.
Tasty Tuesdays features 13 local vendors located either within walking distance of the campus or along the route of the campus shuttle. Among the vendors in the rotation are Julie’s Restaurant, Twisted Soul, Babycakes Café and Reggae Boy.
Kelly explained that the motivation behind Tasty Tuesdays is twofold. “We’re hitting two birds with one stone,” said Kelly at the Nov. 9 VSA Council meeting. “Students like it, and it helps local business in hard economic times.”
VSA Vice President for Operations Caitlin Ly ’10 has been working with Computing and Information Services to enable the vendors to use VCard readers so that students can pay for their food with VCash. “I am hopeful that we’ll be able to use the [card readers] by second semester, at least,” said Kelly, who felt that the first Tasty Tuesday was a rousing success. “I personally saw they were running out of food,” he said.
Janet Smith, owner of Janet’s Jerk Shop, said that she is participating in Tasty Tuesdays because it helps publicize her restaurant and she likes meeting students. “I wouldn’t say I make a lot of money [coming to Vassar], but I enjoy doing it,” she said.
“I work at the restaurant seven days a week, so it’s nice to get away for one day and come here,” she continued.
Judy Gianserra was operating a booth selling baked goods from Orza and Pane D’Oro bakeries in Yonkers, N.Y. She comes to Vassar because her sister works at the Infant Toddler Center. “The kids love it,” said Gianserra.
“This [food] is better than the Retreat and the [All Campus Dining Center], said Steven Madison ’11. “I just stumbled upon it and it brings joy to my day.”
“I think it’s fantastic—a nice change of pace,” said Rebecca Katz ’10. “It’s especially good for me because I live off campus, so I’m not on the mean plan,” she said.
As to whether the VSA is planning to expand Tasty Tuesdays to other days, Kelly said that the program “will expand if there’s a real demand.”
Though student organizations also use the College Center to sell various items, Kelly is confident that there is enough room for all. “There’s a reason that we have different things happening in the College Center on different days,” said Kelly.
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