Bon Appétit

Pursue it With Passion: A Chef's Perspective

~Written by Carolina Fojo, East Coast Fellow for Bon Appétit Mgmt. Co.

 
As the East Coast Fellow for Bon Appétit, I travel to college campuses to discuss food sustainability with students, and with our staff and chefs. I recently had the privilege of sitting down with Chef Justin McArthur, a recent addition to the Bon Appétit family at Case Western Reserve University. He’s been working with Bon Appétit for 4 months, but in the food industry for 14 years. He shared some of his thoughts on the industry, his career, and his passion for what he does.

 When did you first become interested in pursuing food as a career?

It’s the standard story; I started off as a dishwasher. My best friend got a job, so I decided to apply. So we were both dishwashers. Then the cooks all quit, and they put my friend and me on pizza and salads and desserts. It was a real blast! I’ve always loved food since I was a kid. That job really opened my eyes to what you can do with it and what really good food is about. Then I ended up going to my vocational school, and eventually culinary school. 

What’s your favorite thing about what you do?

My favorite thing is the relationships and the people, inside the kitchen and outside the kitchen. Variety is the spice of life—and in this job, you get to meet a really unique mix of people that food brings together.

Service is also a big part of it. In the kitchen, I really like trying to serve my team and build them up, working with everybody, trying to improve their skills, giving them some confidence. Outside the kitchen, its customer service; and when you see people eat and be satisfied, even for a small portion of their day…there’s a gratification in that.                 

From Rooftop to Salad Bowl: Microgreens Galore

Bon Appétit Whitman College Cook Greg Perez

By Vera Chang, West Coast Fellow, Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation

The Whitman Model Farm Project not only conserves natural resources and improves Whitman College’s environmental efficiency, but also happens to produce delicious food. I know because I just had an outstanding salad at Bon Appétit Management Company’s Prentiss Dining Hall at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA for lunch. Now, post-meal, like a salad lover in search of her pot of gold, I’m off to find out where my microgreens[1] came from. It turns out that in the rooftop greenhouse of Whitman College’s Hall of Science, salad grows.

Sweet pea tendril vines wind their way up from growing trays. Four students are planting and watering seeds. I am sweltering under the greenhouse’s captured sun, but still determined to learn more about my lunch.  

Meeting Farmer Bob Knight and Other People Behind the Food at Biola University

Farmer Bob Knight (on right) with Bon Appétit Management Company Biola University Chefs

By Vera Chang, West Coast Fellow, Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation

“Farms are getting huge. Real estate is expensive in California. Farming in the global food economy requires [farmers] to have thousands of acres. Farmers that used to have 10 or 20 acres are now being pressured to buy 4,000 acres.”

We are at the Bon Appétit Management Company Student Ambassador Program at Biola University, a kick-off event for thirty students to get to know some of the people behind food: Bon Appétit chefs, staff, and farmers. Executive Chef Peter Alfaro just spoke about the path that led him to work in the kitchen and his passion for making the food system more sustainable through purchases as a chef. Biology professor and head of the Biola Organic Garden Jason Tressel also shared his insights. He recently became a gardener and since then, has not stopped dreaming about converting conventional landscapes, like lawns, into edible foodscapes, full of vegetables.

A Beacon of Local Light

~Written by Carolina Fojo, East Coast Fellow for Bon Appétit Mgmt. Co.

 As a Fellow for Bon Appétit, I have the pleasure of traveling to local farms from which Bon Appétit purchases, and meeting the very people who provide us with the food we eat. In September, I traveled to St. Libory, IL to visit Brad Schmitz, owner of Wenneman Meat Co., an old fashioned butcher shop and meat market that provides meat from Illinois farmers to Bon Appétit cafés at Washington University in St. Louis.

Wenneman Meat Co. is unique to its area. Let’s face it—Illinois is corn country, not meat country. And sure enough, as I drove down IL-15 E—(nearly blinded by the sun, it was so bright!)—I passed field after field… after field… of corn, and soy. So what is this shop, sourcing local meat, doing in Illinois corn country?

The New American Gothic

~Written by Carolina Fojo, East Coast Fellow for Bon Appétit Mgmt. Co.

 

 

As a Fellow for Bon Appétit, I have the pleasure of traveling to local farms from which Bon Appétit purchases, and meeting the very people who provide us with the food we eat. Last month, I traveled to Dover, PA to visit one of the incredible farms that provides food at Goucher College—Sunnyside Farm.

Sunnyside Farm is run by husband and wife Homer Walden and Dru Peters, two kindred spirits with opposite personalities. Homer is the creative farmer, brilliant inventor, and engineer. Dru is the practical businesswoman who makes sure that their hard work pays off in the end. Neither could make the farm run on their own—but together they have built up a beautiful farm and successful business, and you only have to talk to them for two minutes to see that there is nothing else in the world they would rather be doing.