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House Cafeteria Offers Farmers Market

By Emily Yehle

Lois Allensworth stood behind a table stacked with her tomatoes, cantaloupe and garlic on Wednesday, enthusiastically inviting staffers and visitors to try a cherry tomato or a slice of melon.

“This lady is serious. This is a serious sungold lady,” Allensworth said as one woman picked out four packages of bright orange cherry tomatoes. Soon after, she turned her attention to a man who was squeezing the cantaloupes.

“They should not be soft,” she promptly informed him, with a smile.

Allensworth, 58, is one of a few local farmers who occasionally bring their produce into the Longworth House Office Building’s cafeteria. Restaurant Associates, the company that runs the House’s cafeterias, started the program in May and hopes to continue it indefinitely.

The schedule is still a bit unpredictable; farmers come in when they can, and RA officials are in the process of persuading more to make the trip.

“We’re still in the infancy of it,” said Tom Green, the RA executive chef for the House. “But it’s been well-received so far.”

Indeed, Allensworth got a steady stream of customers in the crowded cafeteria Wednesday afternoon — many of them were staffers stopping by on their lunch break.

“Ah, a repeat customer!” Allensworth exclaimed as Carol Ertel, the officer manager for Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), approached the table. Ertel bought her favorite: sungold cherry tomatoes. Her work schedule, she said, usually doesn’t leave much time for trips to farmers markets.

That convenience is one of the reasons that RA and House officials decided to start the program, said Jeff Ventura, spokesman for Chief Administrative Officer Dan Beard.

The markets, he said, are “in line with not only the Green the Capitol Initiative in that if foods are purchased locally, there’s less shipping involved, but also it’s a very important employee benefit.”

Since Beard became the CAO in 2007, he has overhauled the House’s cafeterias, working with RA to offer biodegradable utensils, local food and more selection.

“Local” is defined by RA as within 150 miles of Washington, D.C. Allensworth’s farm — called Lois’ Produce — is located near Leedstown, Va., and the lifelong farmer said she enjoys selling her produce at various markets.