An incredibly informative and interesting article. Rather lengthy but worth the read!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?hp&pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Real Food Challenge!
Last weekend, four Farms to K members (including myself) got to travel to Baltimore to attend the Real Food Challenge national conference. All three days were jam-packed with workshops, panel discussions, group reflections/activities and amazing food. We left inspired to continue the work we do with greater energy and passion.
Real Food Challenge is a national organization working with college students to get more 'real food' (ecologically sound, local, fair, and humane) into campus cafeterias across the country. Their goal is to shift $1 billion of college/university food budgets from corporate or industrial food to 'real food'. They have developed tools such as the Real Food Calculator, to help student asses and quantify how much 'real food' is in their cafeteria, and to use the results as a base to work from. By signing the 'Real Food Campus Commitment' schools commit to sourcing 20% real food by 2020.
Representatives from over 70 colleges and universities attended the conference this past weekend, and we were able to hear, first hand, the progress other students have made toward achieving these goals. It was amazing to have so many ideas and resources in one room, and actually was a bit overwhelming at times.
One school I found particularly inspiring was Carleton. Their dining provider is Bon Appetite, and they are currently sourcing around 20% real food and aim for 35% by 2020. Bon Appetite invested $15,000 in Carleton's organic farm last summer, which provided farm intern salaries and infrastructure improvements. A portion of this money also went towards purchasing the student grown produce. Tori, one of the paid farm interns, said that the Bon Appetite (BA) chef would buy practically anything they offered him and incorporate it into cafeteria meals. She also mentioned that BA hosts cooking classes once a month (they learned how to make gnocchi last month!), free and open to all students.
Several BA workers spoke on panels at the conference and requested that they be involved and included in these student movements on campus. Christine, a BA worker at American University, said that she wants students to talk to workers directly about their cafeteria food goals, and that they will most likely want to work together. It's so important that we have a working relationship with the people who prepare our food - something I think is lacking at K. There's a great opportunity for collaboration and I hope to reach out to caf workers as we continue the push for real food in our caf.
Hearing these stories, and many others, made me realize that we can dream BIG. The things we want to see on K's campus (better, more just food, a relationship with our dining provider, more student involvement in the caf, ect.) are possible and are happening at other schools across the country.
As a school so committed to social justice, I think we can work to have a more active, in-practice commitment to the real food values.
Real Food Challenge is a national organization working with college students to get more 'real food' (ecologically sound, local, fair, and humane) into campus cafeterias across the country. Their goal is to shift $1 billion of college/university food budgets from corporate or industrial food to 'real food'. They have developed tools such as the Real Food Calculator, to help student asses and quantify how much 'real food' is in their cafeteria, and to use the results as a base to work from. By signing the 'Real Food Campus Commitment' schools commit to sourcing 20% real food by 2020.
Representatives from over 70 colleges and universities attended the conference this past weekend, and we were able to hear, first hand, the progress other students have made toward achieving these goals. It was amazing to have so many ideas and resources in one room, and actually was a bit overwhelming at times.
One school I found particularly inspiring was Carleton. Their dining provider is Bon Appetite, and they are currently sourcing around 20% real food and aim for 35% by 2020. Bon Appetite invested $15,000 in Carleton's organic farm last summer, which provided farm intern salaries and infrastructure improvements. A portion of this money also went towards purchasing the student grown produce. Tori, one of the paid farm interns, said that the Bon Appetite (BA) chef would buy practically anything they offered him and incorporate it into cafeteria meals. She also mentioned that BA hosts cooking classes once a month (they learned how to make gnocchi last month!), free and open to all students.
Several BA workers spoke on panels at the conference and requested that they be involved and included in these student movements on campus. Christine, a BA worker at American University, said that she wants students to talk to workers directly about their cafeteria food goals, and that they will most likely want to work together. It's so important that we have a working relationship with the people who prepare our food - something I think is lacking at K. There's a great opportunity for collaboration and I hope to reach out to caf workers as we continue the push for real food in our caf.
Hearing these stories, and many others, made me realize that we can dream BIG. The things we want to see on K's campus (better, more just food, a relationship with our dining provider, more student involvement in the caf, ect.) are possible and are happening at other schools across the country.
As a school so committed to social justice, I think we can work to have a more active, in-practice commitment to the real food values.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Bread Making Workshop
A couple of weeks ago (sorry for the delay in posting!) Trace, Kacey and I hosted a bread making workshop in Hoben Kitchen. We each made our specialty bread: Trace- cinnamon raisin, Kacey- French baguettes, and I - Cheese herb boule. To show the different stages of bread making, we had to prepare ahead of time and have examples of the dough in the mixed, risen, shaped and baked forms. Because there were so many stages to show, we had SO MUCH BREAD to eat! Yum! More workshops to come!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Sodexo Presentation
Last Wednesday, the last vendor, Sodexo, gave their presentation. They highlighted interesting information about the company, using the refrain "You think you know us, but did you know that..."
They mentioned being the leader in their industry in sustainability, that their biggest 'umbrella charity' is fighting hunger, and that their a global company providing food for schools, hospitals and prisons all over the world.
Our Dining Director/Manager, Susas Matheson, spoke for most of the presentation. She talked about several initiatives they are working to implement in the caf. Lean Path is a tool they will use to weigh the leftover food, calculate waste, and use the results to decrease total food waste. My Fitness Pal is an app that will allow you to pull up the nutrition information of certain recipes used in the caf, on your phone while you're actually eating. They want to launch a to-go container program so students can take food out of the caf.
They claimed that 34% of the food in our caf is local. Hah. Their definition of local is produced within 150 miles. Key word: produced. They count Kellogs, Smuckers, Big Apple Bagels, Welches and many other large companies' products as 'local' because they have production facilities within 150 miles, even though it's possible that none of the ingredients for these products were actually grown in Michigan.
Susan talked about year-round employment being an issue for caf workers, since they can no longer receive unemployment over our breaks because of recently passed state legislation. She has made it possible for her workers to work year round - a feat she is very proud of.
She emphasized the use of comment cards to provide feedback. She reads, responds and re-posts each card, and values this immediate form of feedback. "I'm not going to pretend to be able to do everything, but I am listening to you guys," she said in closing.
They mentioned being the leader in their industry in sustainability, that their biggest 'umbrella charity' is fighting hunger, and that their a global company providing food for schools, hospitals and prisons all over the world.
Our Dining Director/Manager, Susas Matheson, spoke for most of the presentation. She talked about several initiatives they are working to implement in the caf. Lean Path is a tool they will use to weigh the leftover food, calculate waste, and use the results to decrease total food waste. My Fitness Pal is an app that will allow you to pull up the nutrition information of certain recipes used in the caf, on your phone while you're actually eating. They want to launch a to-go container program so students can take food out of the caf.
They claimed that 34% of the food in our caf is local. Hah. Their definition of local is produced within 150 miles. Key word: produced. They count Kellogs, Smuckers, Big Apple Bagels, Welches and many other large companies' products as 'local' because they have production facilities within 150 miles, even though it's possible that none of the ingredients for these products were actually grown in Michigan.
Susan talked about year-round employment being an issue for caf workers, since they can no longer receive unemployment over our breaks because of recently passed state legislation. She has made it possible for her workers to work year round - a feat she is very proud of.
She emphasized the use of comment cards to provide feedback. She reads, responds and re-posts each card, and values this immediate form of feedback. "I'm not going to pretend to be able to do everything, but I am listening to you guys," she said in closing.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Creative Dining Visit
Yesterday, representatives from Creative Dining (headquarters in Zeeland, Michigan) came to give their hour long presentation in the Recital Hall. Quite an interesting experience...
There was a lot of commotion as I walked in to the FAB and students crowded around several tables. Creative Dining reps were serving three kinds of popcorn on either side of a chic, white shelf display holding apples, bananas, pears, clementines, and Jones Soda - complete with straws. Well played.
Unfortunately, the actual presentation was a bit less impressive. They started with a promo video to 'give us a better idea of who we are as a company'. We saw lots of pictures of happy students to the beats of super cheesy spa techno music, with words like 'Sustainable' 'Authentic' 'Collaboration' 'Responsive' flashing on the screen. I'm not trying to be harsh, but I felt like I was in high school. They showed three similar short videos throughout the presentation.
In between the videos, several representatives briefly spoke. They emphasized their desire to become a partner of our institution and to work with K students. They would have opportunities for student employment, leadership and scholarships. They stressed 'trustworthy' 'attentive' and 'flexible' as three key traits of their company. They're dedicated to being transparent and customizing their practices to the campus they're serving. "What makes us unique is our ability to be flexible." They serve at Albion, Hope, Calvin and a few other small religiously affiliated colleges.
They have a program called Globe that focuses on bringing global cuisine to the cafeteria. The chef said he would be willing to have international students back in the kitchen, showing them how to prepare something the authentic way.
The majority of their food comes from Gordon Food Service, what they see as a local company. They also have relationships with 22 local producers in our area (within 100 miles). They referenced buying CSA shares (community supported agriculture) so that farmers can have an income to count on and not have to 'drag their stuff to the market'. It is definitely beneficially for farmers to have a secure buyer before the crops are even harvested.
When asked how the caf would be different if they operated it, they stressed the presentation of the food. "I want students to come in and say, the food looks good in here today," Jeanine (I can't remember her title) said. She talked about the color and presentation and wanting students to have a hard time deciding what to eat because it all looks so good.
They were also asked about treatment of workers, both their own and on the farms from which they purchase their food. They said all current caf workers would be able to apply for a position with Creative Dining. They didn't go into specifics about wages or health benefits. They seemed unsure how to respond to the part about migrant workers, and one rep said, "We don't pretend to know what goes on behind closed factory and farms doors." ...at least they were being honest?
Clearly, Creative Dining was not as well practiced at presenting their company as Bon Appetite. They are smaller, younger, and have fewer resources and money (although they did spend quite a bit on providing free food...) and just seemed less confident. They hadn't done as much research about our school and didn't have a many plans for what they would do differently as our food provider. They did seem very passionate about working with us and doing what WE as K College want. The orange popcorn and the K cookies and cookie cutters were definitely a reflection of this intent to 'customize'.
It seems that Creative Dining would be very willing to work with us to get what we want in the caf, but that they have less knowledge and experience addressing the issues we care about as a social justice oriented campus.
These are my personal reflections and I definitely didn't cover everything. I would love to hear other's thoughts on the presentation, so please comment!
There was a lot of commotion as I walked in to the FAB and students crowded around several tables. Creative Dining reps were serving three kinds of popcorn on either side of a chic, white shelf display holding apples, bananas, pears, clementines, and Jones Soda - complete with straws. Well played.
Unfortunately, the actual presentation was a bit less impressive. They started with a promo video to 'give us a better idea of who we are as a company'. We saw lots of pictures of happy students to the beats of super cheesy spa techno music, with words like 'Sustainable' 'Authentic' 'Collaboration' 'Responsive' flashing on the screen. I'm not trying to be harsh, but I felt like I was in high school. They showed three similar short videos throughout the presentation.
In between the videos, several representatives briefly spoke. They emphasized their desire to become a partner of our institution and to work with K students. They would have opportunities for student employment, leadership and scholarships. They stressed 'trustworthy' 'attentive' and 'flexible' as three key traits of their company. They're dedicated to being transparent and customizing their practices to the campus they're serving. "What makes us unique is our ability to be flexible." They serve at Albion, Hope, Calvin and a few other small religiously affiliated colleges.
They have a program called Globe that focuses on bringing global cuisine to the cafeteria. The chef said he would be willing to have international students back in the kitchen, showing them how to prepare something the authentic way.
The majority of their food comes from Gordon Food Service, what they see as a local company. They also have relationships with 22 local producers in our area (within 100 miles). They referenced buying CSA shares (community supported agriculture) so that farmers can have an income to count on and not have to 'drag their stuff to the market'. It is definitely beneficially for farmers to have a secure buyer before the crops are even harvested.
When asked how the caf would be different if they operated it, they stressed the presentation of the food. "I want students to come in and say, the food looks good in here today," Jeanine (I can't remember her title) said. She talked about the color and presentation and wanting students to have a hard time deciding what to eat because it all looks so good.
They were also asked about treatment of workers, both their own and on the farms from which they purchase their food. They said all current caf workers would be able to apply for a position with Creative Dining. They didn't go into specifics about wages or health benefits. They seemed unsure how to respond to the part about migrant workers, and one rep said, "We don't pretend to know what goes on behind closed factory and farms doors." ...at least they were being honest?
Clearly, Creative Dining was not as well practiced at presenting their company as Bon Appetite. They are smaller, younger, and have fewer resources and money (although they did spend quite a bit on providing free food...) and just seemed less confident. They hadn't done as much research about our school and didn't have a many plans for what they would do differently as our food provider. They did seem very passionate about working with us and doing what WE as K College want. The orange popcorn and the K cookies and cookie cutters were definitely a reflection of this intent to 'customize'.
It seems that Creative Dining would be very willing to work with us to get what we want in the caf, but that they have less knowledge and experience addressing the issues we care about as a social justice oriented campus.
These are my personal reflections and I definitely didn't cover everything. I would love to hear other's thoughts on the presentation, so please comment!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
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