I know about local-food initiatives in different places throughout the country and I am skeptical. In the summer it is great, but the culinary arts are so focused on taste. Do you think that people will ever have the opinion that eating locally is more important than eating the things that taste amazing? If not, what do you think could inspire them? -- John Pepper, Middlebury, Vt.
Maisie Ganzler, Bon Appétit Management Company.
Local food does taste amazing! Are there compromises? Absolutely. I'd rather not have a peach in December than eat one of those mealy, flavorless things imported from who-knows-where and sold in supermarkets.
You're in Vermont, so local produce is in short supply in the winter, but you can still support local cheesemakers, artisan bakers, and meat producers. And what is more satisfying on a winter day than a roast chicken surrounded by root vegetables? The drippings caramelized with the sugar from beets and parsnips -- yum! I'd take that over beefsteak tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella and basil (one of my favorite summertime treats) on any cold day.
Please describe some of the steps you've taken to inform your customers and their dining guests about the true "cost" of authentic and healthy food. -- Pamela Corcoran, Roanoke, Va.
When I referred to the "true cost" of food, I was really asking to reveal the cost of the "cheap" produce and processed foods we see today in supermarkets and chain restaurants. The price we pay for these items at the register doesn't take into account the enormous farm subsidies enjoyed by agribusiness, the health-care costs from obesity-related disease, the environmental cost of transporting food across the world, or the cost of destroying our topsoil.
Through educational campaigns like the Circle of Responsibility and our Eat Local Challenge, we've tried to start our guests thinking about these issues. I also suggest you watch The True Cost of Food, a fun lesson about the price of the food we eat.
What makes Bon Appétit stand apart from some of its competitors on college campuses, such as Sodexho? -- Whit Jones, Northfield, Minn.
Bon Appétit was the first food-service company to address the issues of where our food comes from and the effect that has on our communities, environment, and well-being. That means we have an unparalleled depth of experience working with local farmers, cooperatives, and NGOs to create policies that are new to our industry and have meaningful impact. In fact, we have paved the way for other food-service companies and restaurants to be able to purchase locally by doing the early legwork with organizations such as Food Alliance and America Fresh to work out the kinks in the supply chain and develop systems that work for large-volume operations.
We also think of the local producers we work with as partners and try to aid them in making their businesses successful. For example, we favor direct relationships with farmers so that the benefit of our purchases goes into their pockets rather than to a distributing middleman. We also pay many farmers in seven days (instead of the standard 30 or even 180 that other companies use) to help ease their cash-flow problems. Our managers often pick up produce from suppliers who can't afford trucks, and our chefs have been known to modify menus to help farmers who find themselves with shortages or overages.
For example, the Community Alliance With Family Farmers brought to our attention a farmer who had an abundance of late-harvest peaches. He feared that he had no outlet for the peaches, and that they would end up rotting on the trees or be picked only to rot in the box. Our Southern California Regional Vice President Cary Wheeland said, "We'll take 'em ... all of them!" The initiative was given to our district managers to start placing some case orders for the peaches. The case order for Eat Local Challenge day alone was over 70 cases. Each chef was challenged to create fun and exciting menu items using peaches, in order to keep the fruit from going to waste, to support the farmer, and to continue the sustainability chain in our community. I think that's pretty special!
Maybe most importantly, all of the commitments we talk about apply to all 400 of our cafés nationwide, not only to specific "green" locations. Sustainability is not a marketing term to us; it is at the core of our business model. It is ingrained in our culture, valued at the highest executive levels, and worked toward on a daily basis.
My fellow student activists and I are trying to convince our university's food-management company to incorporate some of the socially responsible practices that Bon Appétit has embraced. Do you have any advice for us? -- Alison Nemirow, Chicago, Ill.
First of all, I applaud you for getting involved. We love hearing from students who care about food-related issues. My advice is to ask a lot of questions and then ask for incremental changes. Learn as much as you can from people who are dealing with the realities of these issues every single day, and then use that information to craft a meaningful yet reasonable request. For example, go to the farmers' market and talk to farmers about what products are in good supply and what distribution mechanisms are in place. Then, go to your food-service managers with some easy wins that will make them feel successful right off the bat. Maybe there is an apple orchard near the college or a greenhouse operation that grows lettuce. See if you can connect the chef and the specific producer rather than demanding "more local food."
Ten years ago, my college cafeteria was run by Bon Appétit but never did I hear a word about the company's purchasing of local foods or sustainable practices. Why isn't the word out to constituents about the company's practices? -- Katie Goetz, Palo Alto, Calif.
We are in a somewhat unique position of having marketing lagging behind practice rather than driving it. Ten years ago, when you were eating in a Bon Appétit café, we purchased local produce, meat, and baked goods simply because they were the best-tasting products, but we didn't think of it as a "political act," so we didn't really talk about it. Honestly, we had no idea people would care. That changed for us a few years ago when consumers started asking questions, and we found we had a great story to tell.
One of my daily challenges is to strike the proper balance between effectively communicating our principles and not overwhelming our guests or becoming food "nags." If you went to one of our cafés today, you would see more information than in years past, but to truly understand the depth of our passion, nothing beats a conversation with one of our chefs.
A recent New York Times was about the national consumer demand for animal products that come from farms treating their animals decently -- a concrete way people are opposing factory-farming cruelty and environmental devastation. What has Bon Appétit already done when it comes to purchasing meat, eggs, and dairy from more humane sources? -- Kelly Fields, Houston, Texas story
That was an interesting story. I think it captured some of the confusion consumers face in trying to navigate the sea of labels.
We were the first food-service company to purchase chicken raised only without the non-therapeutic use of medically important antibiotics and then first again to extend the policy to turkey. We led our industry in the move to cage-free eggs and took a very early stand on rBGH in milk. We are currently working to implement natural-beef burgers in every café. We're most of the way there but still need to find steady sources for some of our more remote locations.
Our CEO, Fedele Bauccio, serves on the Pew Commission for Animal Husbandry, so look for us to continue to be on the leading edge of these issues.
What do you see as the biggest challenge to incorporating local foods into the food-service industry? -- A. Rood, Berkeley, Calif.
The biggest challenge is going to be modifying purchasing systems. Unlike Bon Appétit, most companies make purchasing decisions centrally with one person negotiating national contracts. Purchasing locally means empowering individual chefs and managers to find their own sources and strike their own deals. That's a big change for most large companies.
Does every single ingredient in the food served for Eat Local Challenge day come from within a 150-mile radius, including the cooking oil, seasonings, etc.? -- Marco Negro, New York
For the Eat Local Challenge, every single ingredient must come from within a 150-mile radius with the only exception being salt (however many of our chefs went the extra step to make their own local salt). That means if you are going to serve bread, the wheat, yeast, sugar, everything has to come from within 150 miles. Our chefs were able to create amazing, diverse meals using ingredients from their food sheds.
Do you have any suggestions on books or websites where I could find out more about local foods and CSAs? -- Kevin McCluney, Tempe, Ariz.
A great place to start is LocalHarvest. They have an excellent search feature that allows you to easily find farmers' markets and CSAs in your area. I also really enjoyed, and learned a lot from, the documentary The Real Dirt on Farmer John.
You mention sustainable seafood. I was just wondering what that is. -- Derrick Nicholson, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Sustainable seafood is from sources, either fished or farmed, that can maintain or increase production in the long-term without jeopardizing the affected ecosystems. For more information, check out Seafood Watch.
Do you ever give keynote addresses? -- David Andrews, Des Moines, Iowa
Funny you should ask. I'm actually addressing the National Catholic Rural Life Center's Annual Conference in a couple weeks. They have an incredible program called Eating is a Moral Act.
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