I stopped by the Victory Garden in front of San Francisco's City Hall and had to snap a few shots of the vibrant colors, the natural diversity, and the serene atmosphere.
-Katherine
The Princeton Review ranked Wheaton College #1 for "Best Campus Food" in the country! Published every year, these rankings are based on information from students at various colleges in the U.S. This great story was featured in the Chicago Tribune today--definitely icing on the cake! I imagine the community is proud to have a local school shine at the top.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention two other Bon Appétit colleges that made the Top 10 list for "Best Campus Food": St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN was #4 and Washington University in St.Louis, MO #8.
Congrats to the Wheaton, St. Olaf, and Wash U teams!
Okay, I've got a favorite new blog - Organic on the Green. I discovered it while reading an early copy of the Organic Trade Association's guide for helping students get more organic offerings in food service (which is going to be a fabulous resource when they publish it). I was contacted by an intern named Nina who is compiling the guide and also came up with the idea for this blog. I've never met her but I'm very impressed by her writing style, thoughtfulness, and interest in making change.
The mission of the blog is to "feed the organic revolution in campus dining." In its inaugural month, students at several colleges have posted extensive explanations of their efforts, challenges and triumphs trying to green their campuses. For someone in the business of campus dining, the posts are inspiring and informative - a fantastic peek into how students think about these issues, what's important to them and how food service companies can better respond. A must read!
While the big news around here this morning is the front page Chicago Tribune story that features Bon Appetit, my personal favorite BAMCO story of the morning was on the gossip pages of the Minneapolis StarTribune. Sure the Chicago piece pointed out our leadership in fighting global warming and included some great quotes but the Minneapolis story included Nellie from Little House on the Prairie. No contest :-)
- Maisie Greenawalt, Vice President and former Little House fan
The tide is changing. Fresh fish is no longer the "must have" item for top chefs. In the same way exotic fruit is falling off menus and being replaced by once-considered-boring local apples, frozen at sea fish is "in" for chefs in the know. Our chefs at Bon Appetit Management Company are leading that charge.
When we announced the Low Carbon Diet internally in 2007, one of the purchasing initiatives we thought might give the chefs pause was the move towards fish frozen at sea. Our first choice remains regionally procured fresh seafood but if that's not possible, we argued, well-handled frozen fish is preferable. Not only does freezing fish at sea eliminate the need to air-freight the product, it can actually better preserve the flavor. Director of the Bon Appetit Management Company Foundation Helene York made this proclamation at five regional meetings of our staff and each time waited to be pelted with heirloom tomatoes thrown by angry chefs. None came.
Our chefs quickly understood the environmental benefits of reducing air-freight and were up to the culinary challenge of using frozen fish. I've had an opportunity to taste some of their efforts in the ensuing year and they've been delicious! No compromising on flavor here.
At the Monterey Bay Aquarium's annual Cooking for Solutions event, our CEO Fedele Bauccio touted the use of frozen at sea fish from the stage while speaking on a panel. His remarks caught the ear of panel moderator Juliet Eilperin, also a Washington Post writer. Today she published a great story on this new eco-culinary trend. The piece, entitled Can Chefs Cozy Up to Frozen Fish?, quotes chefs all over the country talking about how they've changed their menus. We're proud to be in the company of Alton Brown, Barton Seaver, and Rick Moonen. Most of all though, we're proud of our chefs!
Dory Ford, executive chef at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, conducted a culinary demonstration at Cooking for Solutions. Photo credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium / Randy Wilder
The Organic Trade Association and the International Dairy Foods Associationfiled law suits last month trying to block an Ohio ruling making it illegal for producers to label their products with statements such as "no artificial hormones." This follows similar battles in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Missouri and New Jersey.
As a large purchaser, we need as much labeling as possible to ensure we're getting the product we deem best for our customers. Whether it's the use of rBGH, cloned animals, or the country of origin, we should have all the information possible to make our purchasing decisions. When a company fights so hard to discourage labeling, it's cause for concern.
At Bon Appetit, we created the Circle of Responsibility program to give our guests information so they can make food choices that meet their goals and values. Shouldn't our suppliers allow us to do the same?
It's finally tomato season where I live so I'm dreaming in big red circles. (Green and yellow ones, too.) This past weekend I bought a 40 lb flat and made enough peak season, homemade sauces and condiments to remind me this winter of summer treats. I had a long conversation with a tomato supplier in San Antonio, TX last week about his farming practices, and this week I'm meeting with a tomato farmer in Ventura, CA. I'm also looking at what's being sold in markets and I'm truly amazed.
One upscale market I visited recently had four general varieties on hand, all within a similar price range: heirloom (grown within 50 miles), local organic (less than 10), roma (50), and hydroponic cluster tomatoes. I pulled the sticker off one cluster tomato and under a microscope I could see the phrases "greenhouse grown" and "product of Canada." A quick check of maps showed a distance of nearly 1,000 miles by truck between Santa Rosa, CA and Vancouver, BC. For greenhouse-grown produce, the most significant carbon emissions factor is the fossil fuel used to grow the product rather than the distance, in most cases.
But why would a market even carry a tomato from so far away when they can get gorgeous, price-competitive varieties from fields less than an hour away? And why would consumers choose this produce over the other varieties?
The tomato producer's website might offer a clue. Tailored to corporate purchasers, it touts the company's benefits: a "low cost producer," a "daily supplier to customers" and a "provider of excellence in customer service and logistics." In other words, if you're a produce manager, this company can make sure you've got cosmetically attractive tomatoes on your shelves every day of the year. Woe to you if they are ever missing.
If you're a consumer (and not as nosy as I am), what's to clue you in to the differences among four equally-priced, attractive and seemingly "equal" choices? Answer: Nothing. Chances are, you got used to buying those hothouse tomatoes in February and only a quest for variety would change your buying habits now. It's likely to be a long time before most consumers view tomatoes as subject to the "seasonal and regional" framework. For those that do, I have some advice: tomato season is that much more special if you wait for it.
-Helene York, director of the Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation
I appreciate the need for well-designed research studies, robust data and consistent methodology. However, I find this debate interesting because it's mainly focusing on one aspect of organic food: phytochemicals. Yes, I think it's important that we get as much "nutrition bang for our buck" (officially called nutrient density) from the food we eat. However, I've experienced difficulty increasing people's awareness about calories and fat grams and encouraging them to eat more fruits and vegetables; I'm not convinced that they're going to make their food choices based on which type of fruit has more flavonoids and polyphenols.
I think that people who choose organic foods do so for bigger reasons than just nutrition (proven or not). Soil preservation, biodiversity, and flavor are just a few other qualities that come along with organic farming practices. And I'm not solely referring to Certified Organic produce, but fruits and vegetables grown using true organic (with a small "o") agricultural practices. These could be from small local farmers who can't afford to pay for the official "USDA Certified Organic" label; they may indeed grow the most organic produce of all.
I'm interested to see where this debate goes (and for how long) but in the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy my local seasonal fruits and vegetables knowing that I'm getting at least some quercetin in my diet!
Bill Chameides article entitled Carbon Savings at Home recently published on the Huffington Post includes food in the list of ways we can all reduce our carbon footprints. Yea! It's heartening to see the food system entering into the climate change discussion.
He presents some interesting data about potential carbon savings from eating locally. Anyone know where that information came from? We'd love to see the research.
"Would we accept it if the federal agency charged with highway safety allowed cars on the road without brakes - and then warned drivers to exercise extreme caution in order to avoid injury and death? Of course not. But that, in effect is the U.S. government's approach to something that affects all of us on the most basic level: the safety of the meat, poultry and produce that we eat" starts Dr. Ellen Silbergeld's recent op-ed in the Baltimore Sun.
The FDA seems to be running around like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off (although we know that no industrially-raised chicken has a chance to run around) casting blame quickly on everything from tomatoes to cilantro to, this just in, avocados (it's a tough time to make guacamole). What they aren't looking at, as Dr. Silbergeld points out, is the connection between the rise of pathogenic bacteria and the routine use of antibiotics as a feed additive. With more than 70% of antibiotics used as growth promoters or to treat animals before they get sick, it is no surprise that antibiotic resistant bacteria are making their way to our supermarket shelves. It's time for a hard look at our entire food system - not just the produce farms but the way in which all agriculture is linked. The answer cannot be, as many have suggested, to build impenetrable fortresses around farms (see Marc's October 2007 post on this blog entitled "The Magic of California Big Ag...How to Make Small Flavors Disappear!"). No farm is an island.
Side note: After having met Ellen through his work on Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, our CEO Fedele Bauccio asked her to speak at our Senior Staff Meeting in 2007. I consider myself relatively well-versed on the antibiotics crisis due to our work with Environmental Defense Fund but wow I learned a lot. According to Ellen's research, it's not even clear that the increase in growth rate in chickens is worth the cost of the drugs used to speed the process. I'm not normally a conspiracy theorist but I do wonder who funded the studies showing the these drugs are an effective way to promote growth. Maybe the companies selling the drugs? Just a guess...
I was happy to see Whole Foods market announce new, more stringent guidelines for farmed seafood. I was even happier to see Dr. Becky Goldburg of Environmental Defense Fund quoted in the release. We've been working with Becky and the EDF team since 2003 when we joined a coalition working to reduce antibiotic use in animal husbandry. Since then they've supported us in looking at new standards for farmed salmon (since 2004 we've only bought wild salmon and we were hoping to use our purchasing power as an incentive to change the way salmon aquaculture is done - unfortunately no farms were able to meet our standards and we still only buy wild salmon), exploring the sustainability of different shrimp options and expanding our antibiotics policy.
I am continually impressed with EDF's work and their impressive partner list. They are helping businesses create real change that protects the environment and makes business sense. This recent announcement further confirms that.
