Chef Katie Button to Participate in James Beard Foundation Food Waste Reduction Workshop

This spring the James Beard Foundation will host its ninth Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change on May 22nd through May 24th in Montana.

Fifteen chefs from across the country will gather at The Resort at Paws Up in Greenough, MT, to learn effective advocacy skills while exploring the multifaceted issues around food waste reduction.

“A staggering 40% of the food produced in the U.S. goes uneaten each year while millions of Americans go to bed hungry each night. Addressing this issue through prevention, recovery, and recycling provides an opportunity to significantly reduce wasted food, while creating economic and environmental benefits,” said Kris Moon, vice president of the James Beard Foundation. “Chefs will be important stakeholders in achieving the U.S. government’s goal of 50% reduction of food waste by 2030 by addressing waste in their day-to-day business operations and by leveraging their visibility to help educate consumers on creative ways to reduce waste at home.”

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To date, more than 100 chefs have participated in the Foundation’s Chefs Boot Camp program, which was launched in 2012. During the intensive three-day training, chefs hone the policy and advocacy skills they need to be effective champions for the food-system issues they feel most passionately about.

“The Resort at Paws Up is proud to host the next James Beard Foundation’s Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change,” said Larry Lipson, co-owner and managing director of the Resort at Paws Up. “The vision for JBF’s Chefs Boot Camp resoundingly resonates with the driving philosophy of Paws Up’s culinary program. When it comes to food, we’re committed to delivering the ‘five E’s’: Expand, Expose, Engage, Educate, and Entertain. We want our guests to Expand their palates, to be Exposed to new ideas about nutrition and wellness, to Engage in meaningful conversations about the origin of foods and their sustainability, to become Educated through Paws Up Culinary Academy, launching next year, and since we are a resort first and foremost, to be Entertained by what they eat.”

The upcoming Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change will immerse participating chefs in sessions including:

  • Creating a Fair, Just, Sustainable, Nutritious, and Delicious Food System; and Why Chefs Matter: What is advocacy, why do we do it, how do we do it, what to expect from policy; engaging chefs on food-system issues
  • How Policy Happens: Overview of policy change at state and federal levels, illustrated using food waste as an example of a policy issue
  • Power of Networks: Educating chefs on their powerful networks that can complement other influencers
  • Creating a Movement: Utilizing social influencers and networks, including the role of social media platforms, including Instagram and Twitter, to help successfully cut food waste by 50%
  • A is for Advocacy: Why we need campaigns, how they work, how we build them
  • Farm Activities and Collaborative Chefs Dinner: Chefs tour the Resort at Paws Up and cook dinner together using ingredients harvested from the farm and sourced from local purveyors
  • Reducing Food Waste by 50% by 2030: Outline what national advocacy groups are doing to achieve this goal; discuss how to become a successful advocate on this issue

Participating chefs for this Boot Camp include:

Katie Button, Asheville, NC

Elizabeth Falkner, NYC

Jennifer Jasinski, Denver, CO

Ben Jones, Greenough, MT (Host Chef)

Josh Kulp, Chicago

Mourad Lahlou, San Francisco

Rob McDaniel, Alexander City, AL

Ryan Nelson, Indianapolis, IN

Kwame Onwuachi, Washington, D.C.

Jenn Puccio, San Francisco

Doug Ruley, Fenwick Island, DE

Steven Satterfield, Atlanta (Returning Alumni)

Ryan Smith, Atlanta

Bryant Terry, Oakland, CA

Jason Weiner, Bridgehampton, NY

(Image via Heirloomhg.com.)