REAL FOOD CHALLENGE

Check out this website. Really Really cool and seems very legitimate. We can talk about it at the meeting.
http://realfoodchallenge.org/

small farm food in a dining hall? what? impossible, they say!

From Bon Appétit's website - check out their student garden guide:

Palo Alto, Calif. (September 22, 2009) — Bon Appétit Management Company is taking action to help student farmers launch careers in sustainable agriculture.

 

Bon Appétit has developed a guide for aspiring student farmers to help them build good business relationships with their best potential customers—the college food service providers that are right in their backyards. The guide will be made available to students in garden groups all over the country and on the company’s website. www.circleofresponsibility.com/student-garden-guide

 

Students who learn to farm can make both an immediate and a long-term contribution to American food security. Small, independently-operated farms are the backbone to a sustainable food system and they are in peril. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, only 1% of the population of the United States is involved in farming, compared to 40% at the turn of the 20^th century. This number promises to dwindle as existing farmers retire (more than 40% are 55 or older).

 

It’s not as if young people aren’t interested in farming. Students are flocking to farm internships. And with the rise in the Real Food movement, colleges are the ideal place to begin a new agricultural revolution. Many campuses have land available for student use and college food service providers can be willing buyers for student-grown produce. Bon Appétit Management Company has long purchased produce from student-run farms at many of their 400 cafés across the nation, including Minnesota’s St. Olaf College, Colorado College, Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, Mills College in Oakland, Calif. and others. The company is pleased to offer the guide to students everywhere as a way to help lower the barriers to entry for young farmers.

it's possible...

Oberlin / Bon Appetit article

Food Radicality Gathering #2

Paul:

Talked to food god at Sewanee Scott Maynow

Mixed messages, not too excited about local food

He is worried about supply issues; issues of insurance

Willing to track food (e.g. where it comes from)

**Tracking a hamburger meal from grill

Want to eventually make a really cool map put in McClurg

Once we do this, we need to make strong case about local food

Very willing to do composting—going to be trashcan in back of McClurg, to be taken out to the garden

Jane: Colorado College

Supplier is Bon Appetite(was backer of local foods store)

Very focused on local foods and trying to incorporate local/regional food

Aim is toward working lands

They have a local foods store...see if can find a student that is involved

Deanna: Oberland

Bon Appetite helped buy greenhouse that is run on grease oil

“Farm to fork”

Policies of Bon Appetite

35% of food is from local resources

sent email to Dr. Cuppenger

meeting with Rocco---said that he will have a meeting with Scott from McClurg

            **topics for discussion with Scott

**need to make map and showing where Aramark food is coming from/where waste food goes

            **then push really hard for local food

**could make a comparison map and what it would look like if bought closer …pick one product

RESEARCH

Jane and Olivia go to market

How did Victoria get off meal plan

Bill talk to Gerald Smith about local foods

Talk to Alexis about Newspaper article…eventually

Jane and Olivia look at Bowdoin, Furman, Wafford (president of Furman in charge of sutainable food)

Deanna—Talk to Melissa Dunn, get to know Shane

How does Aramark treat employees? (make clear confidential)

Ask about health insurance and a living wage

Stella—talking to Jess and Dan Pate

Slow Food Movement Chapter on Campus?—Olivia talk to Compton

Colorado College food plan
Bon Appétit- food management company
philosophy:
the Peak to Plains Alliance (PPA) is a coalition of rural and urban community and agricultural leaders in southeastern Colorado that collaborates on diverse projects to promote the area's agricultural heritage and economic viability. Education, conservation and enjoyment are key components of the Alliance's focus. PPA works to enhance a system in which consumers enjoy the health benefits of fresh local food, as well as farm and ranch experiences. PPA seeks to ensure that farmers and ranchers receive a fair price from their products and services and encourages stewardship of working lands and adjacent environments according to ecological principles
Cost of Meal Plan
PLAN A - $5016 ($2508 per semester)This would allow you to enjoy 19 meals/per week for an entire semester.
PLAN B - $4648 ($2324 per semester)
PLAN C - $4232 ($2116 per semester)
Local Goods : local food storeLocal Goods is a retail location featuring all of the essentials including a wide variety of natural foods, seasonal produce, specialty snacks and bottled beverages.
Farm to Fork:
Farm to Fork is a company-wide initiative to buy locally. Our first choice is to purchase seasonal and regional produce from local farmers within a 150 mile radius. These gems of the earth are prepared and served within 48 hours of harvest. The result is healthier communities and customers.

By buying directly from farmers we have much more control over what types of agribusiness we are supporting. We can support sustainable farming practices that nourish and replenish the local land rather than stripping it. We can support farmers that steer away from pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. We can support family farms and farm collectives such as AMO Organics, a cooperative made up of farmers who have made the transition from farm-worker to farm-owner. We can support farmers who are preserving the diversity of our food choices by growing heirloom vegetables rather than genetically-modified “super-produce.” We can be sure that the profits are kept with the local grower, not a distant importer, and therefore reinvested into the community.

Local food info from Fall 2008

Here is the sheet I typed up for my local food independent study I did Advent semester last year, 2008. I wish I could come to the meeting next week! You guys rock!

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZQPAQCYsODDZGNxdnNzemtfMThncjZyZ2RoNw&hl=en

Current Food Amounts

Thanks to the wonderfully friendly Kate Temple (the executive chef) we have the amounts of various products that the dining services uses here at Sewanee. Be warned - it's a huge amount of food!

Sewanee Food Scenarios

In 2008 Callie Flowers '08 developed four plausible scenarios for our food system at Sewanee. Check them out!

She also did a ton of background research exploring how Aramark purchases food. Also highly recommended for reading.

Towards the ends of both documents, Callie writes some advice for activists such as ourselves. Definitely read that too.

The History of Food at Sewanee

Thanks to Stella Pfau and her friends, we have an excellent presentation on how we eat here at Sewanee, including a look at the history of food here. You can click on the link below to view it FULL SCREEN (wow!), or click through it below.

Gnarly Presentation on Food Situation at Sewanee

Research Guidelines

Here's what to do for the research into what our fellow schools are doing.

-Tell us a little about the school - size, location (rural/urban), purpose...
-Investigate their food system, from food sources (farm size? type? location?) to dining services provider (Aramark or similar? or do they do it on their own?) to the dining experience (is the food provided in the cafeteria? labeling? how is it advertised? or is it in a seperate, smaller dining area?
-Look at costs. What are students paying? What does that money get them?
-Learn about History & Process. How did they go from traditional food to a holistic food chain? top down or bottom up? what groups / people were instrumental in the change?
-Anything else that's cool...
-Contact person for further questions?
-What could Sewanee learn from them?
-Your own thoughts?

After you compile this information (do the best you can, no worries if you can't find all of it), post it on the blog for everyone else to read. Make sure you select "Research" as a label for the post. If you have any questions, contact Paul.

Gathering #1

Tonight was the first gathering of Food Radicality. Our goals our simple: become friends with our neighbors this Mountain while working together to nurse Sewanee's food chain back to health.

Who: Deanna W, Paul D, Jane S, Olivia S.
Not present but interested: Kate C, Katie Q, Stella P
We talked about the history of food at Sewanee and updated everybody on the current situation.

In the coming days, we agreed to:
1) Create google / gmail accounts so we can use Google Docs and this blog.
2) Read the background info which Paul will post on this blog.
3) Research how other schools do it (Jane: Colorado, Olivia: Bowdoin, Deanna: Oberlin). Details on how to research will be posted shortly.
4) Talk to Jess about potential cooperative organization & history (Deanna, Stella)
5) Help set up for the Farmer's Markets (Olivia & Jane)
6) Gather next Thursday 9/24 at 8pm in the LAL.