McNary Dining Hall is now providing a healthier option to students eating on campus.

Recently opened restaurant Five Four One, a reference to Corvallis’ area code, makes all its food using ingredients picked from locally grown sources around Corvallis.  

The restaurant primarily serves pizzas and pastas, but adjusts their menu using produce that is in season.

Some of the fruits and vegetables provided come from OSU’s first organic food garden, the Callahan Food Forest, located between Tebeau and Callahan Hall. The garden grows a wide variety of produce each season, from watermelons in the summer to snow peas in the winter.

Tara Sanders, a UHDS dietician, said that the project is a result of growing demand for organic products, as well as to help educate students, especially incoming freshmen, about food choices.

“We are trying to show how easy it is to grow produce, as well as align with what we advocate through UHDS,” said Sanders. “Food made with the purest ingredients within a budget.”

Sanders said that the new restaurant will benefit farms and businesses, as well as support the local economy.

The garden will be maintained by OSU faculty, but a large portion of efforts will come from students in the Landscape Construction Techniques (HORT 358) and Sustainable Landscape Design (HORT 380) classes.

Al Shay, one of the horticulture professors teaching these classes, said that it’s a great way for the school to get connected to the local community.

“It’s about time; it should’ve been happening a long, long time ago,” said Shay.

Shay said that more gardens like the Callahan Food Forest saves costs for maintenance and

equipment to maintain grassy turf, like the mowers used around campus.

“Turf doesn’t have to be everywhere,” said Shay. “Some of these areas can be made more productive for food and pollinators to bring a level of wildlife to the campus.”

Other than its use of local produce, the restaurant boasts a wood stone oven that can cook pizzas in four minutes or less. The pizzeria also allows students to see their food being made as it is being ordered.

Freshman Diego Frias, a marketing major, said that he has heard from his friends that campus food isn’t that great, but welcomes the addition of Five Four One.

“I’m not sure if I’ll like it,” said Frias. “But I feel like it’s a great change to the community.”

Frias said that he is planning to try the food soon.

Kinan Badger, a sophomore who lived in McNary Hall last year, said that he likes the idea of the produce-based restaurant.

“I wished that this place was here when I lived on campus,” said Badger, a computer science major.

Sanders said that she hopes that the new food line will change perceptions about dining hall food.

“We feel like it’s the right thing to do,” said Sanders. “We hope in time we can change that perception and stigma.”

Shay said that more efforts being made by OSU could potentially lead the way to what future urban environments will look like in 2050.

“If we’re just housing and feeding students, then we’re doing something wrong,” said Shay.

Calvy Yue

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