Bon Appétit Management Company

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. 

Fellow Elise Kulers visited Bui Natural Tofu, a beloved Locally Crafted partner at Reed College and a mainstay for tofu enthusiasts in Portland, Oregon.

Furman University has long served Due South Coffee in their Library Café, keeping students fueled on responsibly sourced and locally roasted beans. So, when Bon Appétit Fellow and Furman Graduate Elise Dudley reached out to Professor Sarah Worth about bringing her Philosophy of Taste students to experience a coffee tasting at Due South’s Roastery, the educator welcomed the opportunity. 

Located in Pomona, California, just up the road from the prestigious Claremont Colleges, Farm to Fork vendor Di Stefano Premium Cheese recently welcomed a group from Bon Appétit for a tour of their production facility.