Organic selection: the country's first certified-organic salad bar is only the beginning for Cal Dining at the University of California at Berkeley.(BUSINESS)

Restaurants & Institutions, April, 2006 by Popp, Jamie

Life at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) has always skewed progressive, with a student body that is involved, engaged and committed to causes. No surprise, then, that the words organic, green, local and sustainable are dear to students' activist hearts and that they are the foundation of the movement toward organic foods on campus.

In a natural next step, a 100% certified, organic salad bar just debuted in a residential cafeteria, the first not just at Berkeley, campus-dining officials say, but at any U.S. college. And it's just the beginning. The school has its sights on offering an all-organic menu across its dining facilities, says Shawn LaPean, director of Cal Dining at UCB.

The salad bar--a vibrant expanse of at least two...