Executive Chef Preeti Mistry
Location: Mountain View, California
Number of people fed per day: 1,500
With Bon Appétit Management Company Since: 2006
Farm to Fork Farmer: Dave Evans, Marin Sun Farms
Quote:
“We’re not doing what we do for the bottom line, or because it’s the latest trend or the thing to do. We’re not jumping on any eco-bandwagons. By the time everyone else jumps on our bandwagon, we’re off building the next one.”
Why I’m a chef:
I came from a family where the question of the day was always, “what are we going to eat today?” When I left home, I just naturally started cooking because my mother, a wonderful cook, wasn’t there any more to do it. I started cooking for my roommates. I found that I had an instinct and started realizing how the food I prepared for people made them happy. I’m a very social person and food always brings people together. People always ended up gathering at our house and we became the glue of our social circle. I find my joy in feeding people. Cooking comes from the heart and when I’m choosing the ingredients, and tasting the sauces, I’m always thinking of the people I’m cooking for and how much they’re going to enjoy whatever it is that I’m making. It wasn’t until September 11, 2001 that I decided to become a chef professionally. I’d been working in film and everyone said I should be a chef. I’d thought about it, but was scared. But that day, nothing made sense to me. Nothing except cooking. Like everyone, I didn’t know what to do with myself or where to put my energy. The only thing that felt right was to go into the kitchen and start cooking. So I did, and I haven’t stopped since. I earned a Grande Diplome in Cuisine and Patisserie from Le Cordon Bleu London and worked in London at The Sugar Club and Moro. I returned to San Francisco and launched Saffron Hill, a catering and party design firm, before joining Bon Appétit Management Company.
What sustainable food means to me:
If you put local, sustainable, and organic food into a matrix, you’ll see that Low Carbon food, or food that has a smaller carbon footprint, is the logical next step. It’s the result of combining the control of food waste, which produces methane gas, with buying local, which uses fewer transportation resources, while all along considering if the food is produced in a way that is sustainable. As a chef, you always want to use the best of everything, but initiatives like the Eat Local Challenge, and the Low Carbon Diet challenge us to try harder. It’s within this structure that we find out that we have wonderful products in our midst that perhaps we’ve overlooked. Where I would have once used Manchego cheese, sent all the way from Spain, I’ll use Sonoma County’s Bellwether Farms Pepato. Celebrating the wonderful products we have right here makes so much sense. I have relationships with the actual cheesemakers here. I see them at events in person and can call them any time. I don’t have relationships with cheesemakers in Europe. Likewise, there’s logic in putting ingredients together that were grown in the same area during the same season. Marin Sun Farms beef, marinated in Marin-grown herbs with a sauce made from Sonoma wine, all served with fingerling potatoes grown in Marin soil is beautiful from both a flavor and planetary point of view. As chefs we’re already taught not to waste anything, but with our low carbon initiatives we’ve taken it even further: Leftover chunks of American prosciutto become the base for a sauce, herb stems go right into a stock, and the rind of hard cheese adds savory flavor to soups. Our fishmonger cuts fillets of halibut, salmon, and other local fish for his customers and he always has pristinely fresh fish bones that are full of flavor and would otherwise be thrown out. In our kitchen, those bones become a wonderful fish stock and the base for one of our most popular dishes ever, our Low Carbon Seafood Stew made with local clams and mussels. Cooking like this closes the circle.
Why Bon Appétit Management Company is Different:
Because we do what we do on such a grand scale, we have a huge and amazing impact. It makes me proud to work for a company with a CEO like Fedele who sticks his neck out. He’s willing to take risks that other companies wouldn’t take. We were the first company to adhere to Seafood Watch guidelines, and now it’s something consumers care about and use when dining out or shopping. Before Low Carbon Diet Day very few people thought that their food choices could impact global warming. We’re always pushing further to raise awareness of issues around food.
