Free food shows students 'You are what you eat'

The Student Events and Activities Council ended its first annual, "You Are What You Eat," week Sunday night in the Murphy Commons. For the 15 students in attendance, the dinner had at least one major perk.

"It was simple: I came for free food," said Anastasia Pagan, a senior Spanish major. "The Bon App chef's presentation was pretty insightful, too."

She is referring to a presentation by Bon Appétit executive chef Jim Cooley. While fixing up some chicken spiced with tarragon, black pepper and salt, Cooley discussed the ways in which he purchases food for Bon Appétit.

"I do not buy any produce that isn't from North America," Cooley said.

Frequently, he mentioned how surprised he is by people who assume that organic is automatically good for the environment. Organic foods can come from far away countries necessitating high usage of fossil fuels, according to Cooley.

This was exemplified by Cooley's first course. Before presenting his salad to the students, he cautioned that one might find the salad meager. Because Bon Appétit has a mission of buying local products, sometimes produce is just out of season.

Few of the hungry audience members seemed to mind. The salad was eaten quickly, likely due to the apple vinaigrette draped over the salad, made from locally grown Washington apples.

Event coordinators Katie Dineen and Cameron Martin, were satisfied with the results of their efforts.

"It went pretty well for our first year," said Dineen, sophomore public affairs major. "I think the best thing we accomplished was collaborating with other groups."

Among those who helped were CAPS, Bon Appétit and Madison Market, which gave a tour of its store Wednesday as part of the week's event.

Both Martin and Dineen felt the attendance at each of their programs could improve in the future.

"I think maybe just putting the word out earlier would help," Martin said.

According to SEAC, the Sunday dinner was created to be the highlight of the week due to its informative look at the way Bon Appétit does business.

Cooley enthusiastically discussed some of his successes and failures. He boasts an impressively consistent team of cooks in a business he believes produces
the opposite.

"A lot of times in this school thing you lose up to 40 percent of workers a year," he said. "I retain 95 percent."

Other achievements include adapting to the specific needs of gluten-free and vegan diets. He admits however that it is often hard to meet the special dietary needs of all students.

"This year the vegan and gluten-free thing has gone from something we could get a comment every now and then about to a pretty big deal," Cooley said.

While this may seem like a reason to expand the menus on campus, it can be difficult because of higher costs necessary to produce these options, Cooley said.

For the company to break even on providing these options, large numbers of people need to be purchasing them, and in many areas Cooley does not see this happening.

Inadvertently, Cooley provided Dineen and Martin with the theme of their event next year: local, organic and on a budget.

Dillon may be reached at dgilbert@su-spectator.com