Diners like the tomato sauce served by Food Services so much, they ask to bring it home. Now they can, thanks to a little initiative by culinary staff.

The popular item is available starting today from the grab-and-go coolers in select campus outlets. Cook Peter Polak, a trained chef himself, says he is excited to launch the new product.

“When I prepare the sauce here in our kitchens, the scent is beyond enticing,” he says. “Our own workers get all hungry for pasta when they smell it.”

He cooks it up in batches of 180-200 litres twice a week and says it is a very straightforward recipe.

“There are just eight ingredients: crushed tomatoes, tomato filet, garlic, onions, basil, oregano, salt and pepper,” Polak says. “No preservatives because we make it fresh. That’s what makes it so delicious.”

A 500 mL tub of the sauce will sell for $3.89 at the Marketplace in the CAW Student Centre and the Bru in Alumni Hall. If it’s a success, Food Services will consider introducing additional take-home products, maybe a meat or Alfredo sauce, says Polak: “It’s all demand-driven.”