This is the fourth post about last week's State of the Plate in Washington, DC. Please check out my other posts about the event:
The keynote speaker for the event was Helene York from Bon Appetit Management Company. Bon Appetit is an on-site restaurant company with a focus on sustainable eating. They have 10,000 employees and serve 120,000,000 meals a year! That's a lot of love for good eating.
Helene spoke about the major issues concerning the food industry and gave examples on how BAMCO is trying to fix the problem. I thought it would be helpful to explain the issues, with their solutions as well as solutions that you can do at home.
Problem: Loss of Flavor
Due to industrial agriculture and farming
BAMCO's Solution: Farm to Fork Program - they require that their chef's buy at least 20% of their produce from a farm within 150 miles from their location.
Solution at Home: Instead of buying a packaged marinade, dressing or other seasoning, buy some vegetables (preferably local) and simply season with salt and pepper. Try to bring your pallet "back to it's roots" by accentuating the flavor of the vegetables, not covering it up.
Problem: Misuse of Antibiotics
BAMCO's Solution: Reducing the use of antibiotics by buying hormone-free and vegetable fed animals.
Solution at Home: If you can't afford buying hormone-free and vegetable fed meat, try to reduce the amount of meat you are buying. Limit yourself and schedule your meals (i.e. red meat, once a week, poultry, twice a week).
Problem: Egg Production Practices
BAMCO's Solution: Buying certified eggs - eggs that are cage-free, certified humane and animal welfare approved.
Solution at Home: I know that buying cage-free and organic eggs is very expensive (like $4/dozen expensive). I think that the key here is to understand the living conditions and the differences in the eggs. The best way to do this is to find a local chicken farmer and go visit the farm. Talk to the farmer about the living conditions and taste the eggs. There is a difference, I promise.
Problem: Climate Change
BAMCO's Solution: Reducing purchases of beef by 33% and cheese by 10%, reducing air-freighted seafood and reducing food waste by 30%.
Solution at Home: Composting! I can't wait until I have a big enough place for a big compost bin and a garden to go with it. Compost your food waste, don't just throw it away or down the garbage disposal.
I really believe in BAMCO's goals and objectives and I hope that other companies start to follow suit. While they are extremely motivated and doing everything they can to start changing people's eating habits, they are doing just that "everything they can". Even a large company like Bon Appeitit still struggles to pay for this way of eating and they do not hide the financial struggles. It will take a larger movement to start bringing prices back to where they should be. Until then, I look forward to seeing BAMCO's progression and, hopefully, effect on similar companies.
