Published: April 10, 2017

Former Iron Chef contestant Jehangir Mehta

Chef Jehangir Mehta

Any Iron Chef fans out there? CU Boulder Housing & Dining Services has partnered with the Mushroom Council to bring former Iron Chef America contestant and runner up for The Next Iron Chef Jehangir Mehta to campus on April 11 and 12.

Mehta will perform two cooking demos and discuss the benefits of meat/mushroom blended burgers. He will even teach you how to make one of his favorite blended burger recipes—The Graffiti Burger! (Because, trust us, you have to learn how to cook eventually.) 

Sustainability is an important issue for both University of Colorado as an institution and for Dining Services. If you have not noticed yet, all on-campus dining facilities (except for the Alferd Packer Grill) serve a meat-mushroom blended burger and not the more traditional pure beef burger.

If you go

Tuesday, April 11, 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Village Center Dining and Community Commons

Wednesday, April 12, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Center for Community (C4C) Dining Center

There are a number reasons for having a blended burger, but the most important aspect of these burgers is the impact they have on creating a more sustainable dining culture here on campus. Mushrooms are one of the most sustainable foods grown in the United States, particularly when you compare their water usage to that of beef.

On average, meat-mushroom burgers are 24 percent lower in fat and 27 percent cheaper than all-beef burgers, according to National Public Radio. If the statistics haven't convinced you, most people actually find that a meat-mushroom burger is much more flavorful than a traditional burger!

Join Chef Mehta Tuesday, April 11, at the Village Center Dining or Wednesday, April 12, at the C4C dining center to judge for yourself and learn more about food sustainability.

Students can also bring their own blended burger recipe to the event. Dining Services will pick their favorite student-provided creation to make and serve in the dining centers for a day; plus, it will be submitted to the Blended Burger Project.