A reporter I worked with once complained that, whenever he did a story about food, there was always something “new” he wasn’t supposed to eat. With the launch of sustainable sushi pocket guides this month, sushi is now coming under serious scrutiny. Suddenly, there are “new” items on the conscientious eater’s list to avoid. The […]
Quantifying Sustainable Success
With so much going on in the financial world these days, I couldn’t help but to think about how it all related to my role here as the newest member of the Bon Appétit Management Company team. As an analyst, my goal will be to measure the successes for all of our sustainable initiatives such […]
Carbon Neutral Lettuce? Really?
I have to admit when I saw the headline University serves carbon-neutral lettuce" in the National Restaurant Association Smartbrief, I was dubious. After hearing many claims of carbon-neutrality that are achieved through offsets or even, the latest trend, products being pitched as carbon-negative, my antennae went up. I was, however, pleasantly surprised when I read […]
Should we serve ‘vegetarian food’?
I was invited to give a series of lectures at Duke and Berkeley last week on the connection between food and climate change. Audiences were a mix of faculty, students and community members. Each time, the questions were wide-ranging but I’ve been thinking most about one. I challenged the notion of describing some food or […]
Nuances of Nutrition Labeling
Last night Governor Schwarzenegger passed a bill (SB 1420) that will require chain restaurants in California to post calorie information on their menus and menu boards by 2011. All chains with 20 or more locations must offer information about calories, saturated fat, carbohydrates and sodium content for each menu item. Beginning July 1, 2009, they […]
Eat Local Challenge: Is It Still A Challenge the 4th Time Around?
Today was our fourth annual Eat Local Challenge – an event when all Bon Appetit cafes across the country make a meal completely of local ingredients. When we unveiled the Eat Local Challenge program in 2005, it was with some trepidation. Bon Appétit’s philosophy has always been to empower our chefs and managers to do […]
A Fun View of Prop 2
Paul’s entry below does a great job of laying out the facts. The Humane Society of the United States has also partnered with Free Range Studios to create a fun way to educate voters about this groundbreaking proposition. Check out Uncaged. – Maisie Greenawalt, Vice President PS – I’m also a huge fan of the […]
Putting Our Votes Where Our Mouths Are: Bon Appetit and Prop 2
We’re proud to welcome Paul Shapiro, senior director of The Humane Society of theUnited States’ factory farming campaign, as today’s guest blogger. The plight of the animals we raise for food in this country rarely enters the forefront of our societal consciousness, but Californians are now learning a whole lot more about what these animals […]
Pew Launches Website to Share Info on Overuse of Antibiotics
Bon Appetit Management Company CEO Fedele Bauccio recently completed two years on the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. It was a moving experience that very much affected the way Fedele sees our food system. Each time he visited an animal production facility, he’d return to the office with a list of directives for […]
Random Musings from a Carbon Footprinting Conference
I spent Monday and Tuesday in New York City at a conference entitled Carbon Footprinting & the Supply Chain. I was asked to speak on “engaging consumers.” While I have been getting pickier and pickier about accepting speaking gigs, simply due to a lack of time, I accepted this opportunity because I was intrigued by […]