Bon Appétit Management Company

On a sunny fall afternoon outside of Terre Haute, Indiana, Midwest Fellow Elise Kulers joined 20 first-year and transfer students of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods college on a tour of the White Violet Center for Eco-Justice farm.

Bon Appétit teams across the country celebrated our 18th annual Eat Local Challenge by going beyond simply serving delicious local food to helping guests shop locally, too.

This Fair Trade Month, we’re highlighting the meaning of Fair Trade Certified while celebrating our partner Numi Tea.  

During this year’s celebration of Fair Trade Month, we’re teaming up with Executive Chef Chris Lenza of Bon Appétit Management Company’s Wellness Team. Chris has concocted a set of creative recipes that feature Numi Tea, Bon Appétit’s exclusive provider of Fair Trade teas.

One of the easiest ways to eat all-local meals is through versatile entrées like the trendy and delicious grain bowl. We have compiled a flexible formula that will help you get creative with locally available ingredients. Wherever you shop, from farmers’ markets, farmstands, and local co-ops to grocery stores, the tips and tricks below will help you develop delicious bowls, again and again.

During this year’s Eat Local Challenge, Bon Appetit is helping our guests not only eat locally, but shop locally too. And while we all enjoy visiting a farmers’ market or a local farmstand, it’s worth exploring the myriad other benefits that local food and strong local food systems can provide.

To the uninitiated or unfamiliar, eating locally can feel daunting. During this year’s Eat Local Challenge, we’re here to help, with local shopping lists for our guests and this set of handy tips and tricks.

Bon Appétit Management Company General Manager Michael Cleary and his team introduce students to house-made ferments with new station concept.

Josh Parr practices a new philosophy of the soil at Lafayette College’s LaFarm.

On my table sat a hefty 5-gallon bucket overflowing with green apples. Weighing in at 32 pounds, the fruit represented the average harvest bucket of green tomatoes for which farmworkers in Florida — where most of the tomatoes east of the Mississippi come from in the winter months — are paid a shocking 45 cents per bucket.