Food Systems

10:00 am - 11:00am

Heller Lounge, 2nd floor

Serving 30,000 customers a day might seem the antithesis of “sustainable”, but there are choices that can be made, and steps that can be taken that will help to promote a more sustainable and environmentally friendly dining service program – whether its in your own home or in a dining hall!

This breakout session will highlight Cal Dining’s foray into Organic certification and will discuss the broader Organic industry as a whole.  In addition, we will discuss our efforts to work with CAFF (Community Alliance with Family Farmers) and the “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” campaign.  Other topics will include the promotion of “Klean Kanteens” and tap water vs. bottled water, community garden projects and the Slow Food Nation project.
A lot of information to pack into a 45 minute presentation, but we’ll do our best to cover the topics and leave plenty of time for Q&A!

Speakers:

Chuck Davies

Chuck is a native Californian who began his long career in the wonderful world of food straight out of the frying pan of high school and into the fire of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.  After graduation from the CIA and his apprenticeship in New Orleans, Chuck returned to San Francisco where he worked as a Chef for a large Corporate Catering firm for several years.  His career and life then took a turn to the beautiful green Northwest where he lived and worked in Seattle for 15 years as a Culinary Arts educator, a restaurant Chef, owner-operator of a Bakery-Café and for many years as a Product Development Chef for a natural food retailer.  In 1998, Chuck was awarded a grant from the International Association of Culinary Professionals for advanced pastry studies in Paris, France where he graduated from Le Cordon Bleu

Chuck began his university dining career at UC Berkeley in October of 2004 as Assistant Director-Executive Chef, and was recently promoted to the position of Associate Director of Residential Dining.  Chuck was instrumental in developing Cal Dining’s Organic Certification program.  He’s won several medals in ACF sanctioned Culinary competitions, including a gold medal in a team competition at the University of Massachusetts in 2004.  Chuck is a member of the American Culinary Federation and the Research Chefs Association.

Annie Olson

Annie Olson is second-year Conservation and Resource Studies Major, and her area of interest is Sustainable Food Systems.  Annie is the Coordinator of Outreach Diversity and Anti-Discrimination for the Berkeley Student Co-ops, where she organizes multi-cultural events and workshops about power and privilege.  She also organizes food ecology events such as gardening, composting, and fermentation workshops, and a project called "Seedlings for Co-opers", in which she sprouts seedlings and distributes them for free to any interested co-oper or community member.   She is a member of the Sustainability Team and has been involved in the sustainable food movement on campus by helping to organize "The Local", planting the Mulford Garden, advocating for local and organic produce at CalDining facilities, and teaching the Organic Gardening Decal.  In her free time, Annie likes to brew Kombucha or cider and take bicycle tours to Big Sur or Santa Cruz.

Rachel Barge

Rachel is a graduating senior majoring in Conservation and Resource Studies and minoring in Forestry.  Rachel co-created The Green Initiative Fund, a student fee referendum that successfully secured more than $2 million over ten years - $200,000 annually - for sustainability projects on campus, including clean energy, sustainable transportation, improved energy efficiency, water conservation, "green" internships, and improved recycling and composting programs.  Rachel also founded The Sustainability Team (Steam), a student internship program now consisting of 60 members dedicated to creating, implementing and leading a variety of projects aimed at establishing sustainable practices. The Sustainability Team created the "The Local" - first organic, local, student-run cooperative produce stand on campus, and hosts Earthweek, among other projects.  In her free time Rachel loves cooking vegan desserts in her co-op, playing frisbee, teaching the Organic Gardening Decal, and biking to Tilden Park.