YES, HE SELLS BRATS, TOO
Miller Park chef also tends to stadium garden, preaches ‘green’
Several times during the recent Milwaukee Brewers homestand, chef Seth VanderLaan stepped out to a small vegetable garden and snipped some chives.
That might not seem surprising in this day of locally sourced food. Except VanderLaan is top chef at Miller Park, and his garden is right outside the stadium.
He used the herbs to season roasted potatoes prepared for Milwaukee Brewers players and stadium suite-holders — a far cry from the traditional beerand-brat fare most baseball fans expect.
Those savory accents were a small touch to the side dish, but they underscore the passion for homegrown food and other “green” efforts that VanderLaan has championed in a couple of years on the job.
Miller Park patrons are increasingly open to new flavors and food experiences, he said. They might not realize that the fresh pico de gallo on their nachos includes tomatoes and peppers grown in the Chef’s
Garden.
“It’s all about bringing on the local flavors,” VanderLaan said on a recent morning, surveying the modest-sized garden located behind a screened fence along the walkway near centerfield.
“During that 10-day homestand, we cut down three rows of chives.”
Focus on ‘sustainability’
The garden is a small part of a broader sustainability effort undertaken at Miller Park by VanderLaan and his employer, Delaware North, the company with the stadium concessions contract.
“If this was just a garden for show, I’d put it out in the public,” he said.
VanderLaan ticked off some of the veggies coming this season: corn, acorn squash, kale, Swiss chard, seven varieties of tomatoes.
“This stuff could become a ratatouille,” he said. “I like to go out there and weed and bring my garden shears and apron.”
VanderLaan’s efforts extend beyond what’s cooked up in his kitchens.
He’s working to track and reduce food waste, boost recycling and buy as many products and supplies as possible from local or regional vendors. It’s all part of the reason he was the keynote speaker at the recent Sustainability Summit held at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
Fans and players have taken notice, said Rick Schlesinger, the Brewers chief operating officer.
“We are very supportive of all of these initiatives and are partnering with Delaware North on the overall implementation,” he said.
“We have heard from everyone from fans to families of players; they appreciate healthy food options at Miller Park, and there is also a high interest in sustainability.”
Some of the changes include vegan menu options such as a Thai salad with edamame, black rice, red quinoa, bell peppers and a spicy peanut dressing.
“I’m not trying to make the biggest burger or the next 3-foot hot dog,” VanderLaan said.
That said, the meat such as the chicken or beef served on nachos and tacos is high quality, he said.
“It’s some of the best meat you can get. You’re not getting something out of a bag and pumped with antibiotics.”
A new biodigester
Last month, the Brewers took the sustainability efforts a step further with the installation of a biodigester, which can transform — on a small scale — food waste into wastewater. It’s a first for a Major League Baseball park, he said.
The digester can handle about 500 pounds a day, or about 15,000 pounds over a year, he said.
An app on VanderLaan’s phone shows the biodigester’s work in real time. In about a month of operation, it’s handled about 4,700 pounds of waste, and saved the equivalent of 63.8 cubic feet of landfill space or 188 gallons of gasoline.
“If it’s not good enough to be donated, it gets discarded,” VanderLaan said of the leftover brats, hot dogs and other items.
The biodigester is “way better for the environment” than simply throwing out the unused food, he said. “Ideally, we’ll be getting to the point where I can put bins in all of my kitchens.”
Other highlights:
❚ About 8,344 pounds of surplus food, or about 6,950 meals, were donated to the Hunger Task Force last year. “Food donation is a step to food recovery and diversion as we strive for zero waste,” VanderLaan said.
❚ This season all eggs used at Miller Park — including liquid eggs required for a large commercial kitchen — will be 100% cage free. “It’s definitely not a cost savings,” VanderLaan said. “But I believe it’s the right thing to do.”
❚ Miller Park last year recycled about 6,347 gallons of cooking oil, which is then converted to biodiesel fuel. Factoring in related costs like transportation, the focus on fryer oil had the same impact of the planting of 7,296 trees, according to FiltaFry, the company that Delaware North works with.
❚ The Brewers participate in a program called “Greener Fields” that encourages locally grown produce. Such purchases for Miller Park have jumped 700% in the past two seasons.
VanderLaan said he’s also working to boost recycling.
“We have more work to do on that end,” he said. “We are not perfect, but we continue to look at different options. We’ve come a long ways to what I’d like to see other ballparks and stadiums do.”