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   By Vera Chang, West Coast Fellow, Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation Here is my latest piece on our Triple Pundit business of sustainable agriculture series: When Commodities Traders See Tomato Pickers in Action. It’s about the Student Farmworker Alliance and Farmworker Rights Workshop I participated in at Strengthening the Roots: Food and Justice Convergence.

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Mills College Community Botanic Garden By Vera Chang, West Coast Fellow, Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation Spring is coming into bloom and the Bon Appétit Fellow’s college and farm tours are rolling right along! One topic that continues to excite me on my college tour is campus farms and gardens. I echo Midwest Fellow, Dayna Burtness’s passion for them. ‘Tis the season! Farms and gardens are popping up at colleges and universities all over, growing not only vegetables but also soil, ideas, and budding farmers. Campus farms and gardens are a reclamation not only of our country’s farmland but also of our education. Let’s think back to how the U.S. school calendar was traditionally set up: students studied fall, winter, and spring and helped with the harvest during summer’s peak season. Studying mathematics and literature was complemented with learning how to grow food. I […]

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of presenting The Story Behind the Food at my alma mater, St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.  The highlight of the day at St. Olaf was the big, supportive turnout for the presentation GM Peter Abrahamson and I gave that evening—at least 30 students brimming with energy and good questions!  Students at St. Olaf—especially this crowd—are generally well-informed about issues surrounding food and agriculture, so across the board they gave me feedback about how cool it was to get the “behind the scenes” story of what BAMCO is doing to improve the food system.    Another highlight was dinner!  I can’t tell you how much I miss eating in Stav Hall three times a day, so I relished the opportunity to spend two glorious hours in the café eating a beautiful salad with all the […]

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An animal rights activist I know once told me that there is a correlation between how a farm treats its animals and how it treats its workers.  “After all,” he said, “if a farm is exploiting and abusing its workers, then they’re probably not treating their animals with respect either. And the opposite is also true—if they’re taking the time to make sure their animals live good lives, they’re probably looking out for their workers as well.” Well, I don’t know if this rule holds true across the board or not, but it certainly seems to be the case for Bowman & Landes Free Range Turkey Farm in New Carlisle, OH. Recently I drove through two hours of snowy Ohio scenery to meet up with the folks at Bowman & Landes, who gave me the grand tour of their turkey […]

In light of the recent Salmonella outbreak of foods containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), Helene York discusses this little-known yet widespread food ingredient and emphasizes the importance of cooking from scratch. Read the full post at The Atlantic Food Channel.

 Tony Mantuano, executive chef at Terzo Piano restaurant at the Art Institute of Chicago, will be a contestant on the second season of Top Chef Masters. On the show, world-renowned chefs compete against each other in weekly challenges, testing their culinary skills and creativity. The season premieres on Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 11pm/10pm Central on Bravo! Read about Tony's background and see who he's competing with on the show. Good luck, Tony!

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Last week (2/22/10) East Coast Fellow Carolina Fojo visited Oberlin College and Case Western University for two very different but very successful events about social issues that relate to the very food we eat. Here’s a rundown of what happened: Oberlin College: The Oberlin crowd at my event was pretty liberal, well-versed on many of these issues, and asked some good, challenging questions. What made this event unique, however, was that after my presentation we set up a sort of “Foodie Fair”, in which several on-campus groups (animal rights, slow food, carbon sequestration research, composting/gardening, etc.) put together signs, and set themselves up around the room next door. Once my presentation was done, the crowd shifted to that room to continue the conversation about how to improve the food we eat.    The “Food Fair” was extremely successful. Here’s one example: […]

In her monthly post on The Atlantic's Food Channel, BAMCO's Helene York discusses barriers institutions like colleges and universities face when purchasing local food. You may be surprised by her take on some of the more – and less – significant obstacles.

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East Coast Fellow Carolina and I visited Montebello Farm, where we met Adrian Albor, a young farmer. He told us about what he learned working as a farmworker after coming to the United States from Michoacán, México. Today, he is the farm manager of 18 acres of diversified organic vegetables. Here is a vlog about Adrian of Montebello Farm.

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Check out Bon Appétit Management Company’s series on the business of sustainable agriculture on TriplePundit.com, an innovative new-media company for the sustainable business community. In our most recent post, “Seriously. Where Does Our Food Come From?” East Coast Fellow Carolina Fojo explores the complexity of the food chain and the challenges we face today in trying to source food responsibly. Read the whole post here.