Helene isn’t the only one questioning the prudence of bottled water (see her blog posting "What’s Normal" below). In their newsletter, Organic Bytes, the Organic Consumer Association selected eliminating bottled water from your daily routine as their Tip of the Week. They point to the oil involved in creating the plastic bottles (47 million gallons […]
Dean Foods Denounces Milk from Cloned Animals
Samuel Fromartz, author of Organic Inc., is reporting on his blog Chews Wise that Dean Foods, the nation’s largest dairy company, has announced they will not sell milk from cloned animals. Consumers have shown in multiple surveys that they aren’t interested in products from cloned animals and Dean is listening. In December, when the FDA […]
Bon Appetit Chefs Get Together for Great Food, Learning, & Camaraderie
What do 50 chefs and managers, world famous baguettes, cocoa oil-coated cheese wheels, and 130-year old olive trees have in common? They were all part of last month’s exciting Chefs Exchange Tour, a fun, educational experience for Bon Appetit chefs and managers to learn more about food (they already know quite a bit) and to […]
What’s Normal?
If anything seems easy to define, it should be the word "normal." The more you think about it, though, the harder it becomes. Apply this word to food and beverages and it gets harder still. Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Nora Pouillon, chef/owner of Restaurant Nora in Washington, DC, an establishment described as […]
Lesson learned
Mid-month lesson: Our food supply chain is much more complicated than I thought. Bon Appetit kitchens are already virtually trans fat free. In 2004, we converted all our frying oil to non-hydrogenated canola oil. Also, since our chefs always cook from scratch, we don’t rely on many manufactured products (where trans fats are commonly found). […]
Bon Appetit’s Local Purchases Top $55mm Annually
One of the questions I’m asked frequently by reporters is some version of "Is Bon Appetit’s model of sustainability scalable?" Well, we’ve taken a big step towards answering that query with a resounding "yes!" Our purchases from local farmers or artisans have topped $55mm annually. That’s up 80% from our previous year’s $30mm. Bon Appetit’s […]
In response to Diana’s comment about Boca Burgers…
Commenting on my post about Bon Appetit Management Company joining the Genetic Engineering Policy Alliance, Diana asked why we serve Boca Burgers which are made from GMOs. Unfortunately, GMOs are so pervasive in the US food supply that, short of going 100% organic (which would bring up a whole host of other issues including having […]
Bon Appetit featured on Salon.com
Our October Eat Local Challenge is still getting attention! John Feffer wrote a thought provoking article on the event for Salon.com’s new food section. For most readers, the "thought provoking" aspect of the piece was probably the idea that a large company like Bon Appetit can buy locally or what our industrialized food system has […]
40 Different Chilies Create Outrageously Good Flavor
I’m an adventurous eater always in search of new preparations I can try to imitate. Show me something I haven’t had before, and I’ll usually opt for it. Rarely do I find what I seek in a San Francisco taqueria. I get so bored with "vegetarian burritos" that consist of "Spanish" rice, mushy pinto beans, […]
BAMCO Signs on to Genetic Engineering Policy Alliance
Ever since Director of Culinary Support & Development Marc Zammit and I saw the film the Future of Food, we’ve been discussing how Bon Appetit can take a stand on genetically engineered food. Deborah Koons Garcia’s documentary really opened my eyes to the environmental devastation being caused by GMOs as well as the potential health […]