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National Park concessions offer healthy, locally grown food

National Parks add healthy items to hot dogs and regular fare The light of the full moon mixes with the spray from Yosemite Falls to throw a beautiful lunar rainbow in Yosemite National Park. UPI/Terry Schmitt
National Parks add healthy items to hot dogs and regular fare The light of the full moon mixes with the spray from Yosemite Falls to throw a beautiful lunar rainbow in Yosemite National Park. UPI/Terry Schmitt | License Photo

WASHINGTON, June 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. National Park Service signed rules for the 250 restaurants, snack bars and stores in parks to include healthy, locally grown food, officials say.

Jonathan Jarvis, director of the National Park Service, said the new Park Service guidelines require concessions -- all privately operated -- to offer items such as vegetables and fruit, low-fat foods and non-sugary drinks, in addition to the usual hot dogs and hamburgers.

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"There's no reason to take a vacation from eating well when you visit a national park," Jarvis told WTOP-AM in Washington at a ceremony near the Lincoln Memorial.

However, many of the concessions at national parks are already offering healthy food options.

Rick Abramson, president of Delaware North Parks & Resorts, said the company has been a leader in sustainable, healthy cuisine and farm-to-table dining for nearly a decade.

Delaware North, concessionaire for several national parks including Yosemite, Yellowstone and Shenandoah National Park, is sourcing 90 percent of all menu items at the park from within 200 miles, Abramson said.

Delaware North is also offering a selection more than 1,800 organic or natural food choices in the grocery department at Grand Canyon National Park and has more than a decade of experience in developing relationships with local farms for organic produce in Yosemite National Park, Abramson said.

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For example, the following -- with ingredients from Miller Farms Market in Locust Grove, Va., -- was served at the Washington event:

-- An open-faced Maryland crab cake slider served with locally sourced garlic-chive and grilled lemon.

-- Dipping sauces: Dijon mustard aioli, tomato horseradish radish sauce.

-- Vegan black bean burger.

-- Sweet onion relish, slow roasted tomato, local watercress.

-- Fresh vegetable chips in a basket.

-- Marinated and grilled summer vegetables.

-- Local strawberries served with sour cream and brown sugar.

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