From a young age, food was my source of joy and creativity. As I got older, that fascination with food only grew. What was once a childhood pastime evolved into an obsession. I devoured cookbooks, immersed myself in documentaries, and cooked meal after meal for anyone willing to eat my food. Through cooking, I discovered that food has a unique power to foster connections. Sharing meals and recipes helps build relationships and create lasting bonds, a lesson I learned early on and one that continues to inspire my work today.
From Our Blog
Eight Ways Corn is Used Across Latin America
Throughout Central and South America, we can find corn as a foundational food in many diverse cuisines, revealing its impressive versatility and cross-cultural importance over time. Here are eight different traditional dishes showing the breadth of corn, from a savory staple to a sweet treat!
Corn Chronicles: The History and Impact of Maize in the Americas
For Native Peoples in Mesoamerica, corn was considered a sacred grain, a gift from the gods, and a source of life. Maize was more than just a staple food but helped inform a rich spiritual and cultural identity that lives on to this day.
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Leading By Example
Bon Appétit Management Company is an on-site restaurant company offering full food-service management to corporations, universities, museums, and other specialty venues. Based in Palo Alto, CA, we operate more than 1,000 cafés in 33 states. Our chefs cook from scratch, including sauces, stocks, and soups. Widely recognized as a pioneer in environmentally sound sourcing policies, we are proud to be the first food service company to:
Directly support small, local farms- Strive to serve only sustainable seafood
- Address antibiotics overuse in our meat supply
- Switch to cage-free eggs, both shell and precracked/liquid
- Tackle food’s role in climate change
- Advocate for farmworkers’ rights
- Commit to pork raised without gestation crates
- Switch to third-party verified humanely raised ground beef
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Did you know that the markets for bananas, coffee, tea, and chocolate are volatile to price changes?...
Did you know that the markets for bananas, coffee, tea, and chocolate are volatile to price changes? Or that the supply chains are highly vulnerable to exploitation?
That's why fair trade entered the scene back in the 1950s in an effort to create fair, safe working conditions while enriching folks growing and harvesting these goods!
Today, the Fair Trade Certification ensures that workers at certified farms receive fair treatment and fair pay while giving transparency to consumers about whether their product was ethically sourced.
How do farms seek certification? It is a complex and rigorous third-party certification process that takes many months to ensure minimum requirements for labor standards are being met. Following this, there is an annual audit to maintain the label.
We are proud to source Fair Trade tea companywide, working towards better conditions and compensation for producers this Fair Trade Month and beyond!
Learn more about Fair Trade certifications at the link in our bio, including more about price minimums and premiums. #FairTrade #EthicalSourcing #SocialResponsibility #FairTradeMonth #FairTradeMonth2024 #FairTradeCertified
Mitchell Everetts' journey began as many have before him: with family. 👨👦👦
Home-cooked meals prepared with love and care by his father inspired him to enter the realm of cooking. But rather than just enjoying food, he decided to join a home economics class in high school, learning to cook “without setting off the smoke alarm.”
From Home Ec to No Reservations
Mitchell obsessed over food YouTube channels and cooking TV shows by Guy Fieri and Julia Child, which inspired him to experiment in the kitchen. No one captured his attention like Anthony Bourdain, who shared, “You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together,” which became a lesson central to his time at Willamette University.
He started working at the Bon Appétit café and began to spark conversations with peers about where their food comes from, who grows it, and how our everyday choices impact the world around us.
Finding Inspiration in Every Plate
Why apply to the Fellows? Mitchell wants to tell the stories behind food. To him, every plate holds layers of history, culture, and effort that's often unseen until you dig deeper. He's inspired by these stories and driven by the belief that “good food is one of our species' most powerful tools for building community.”
Get to know our new West Coast Fellow Mitchell Everetts (in his first ever blog!) at the link in our bio. #LoveBonAppetit #HumansOfBAMCO #BonAppetitFellows #FarmToTable #CulinaryEducation
Maize continues to be a staple food across Latin America and the diaspora, showing up in diverse ...
Maize continues to be a staple food across Latin America and the diaspora, showing up in diverse cuisines that reveal the impressive versatility of maize. Here's a breakdown of eight ways corn is used across Latin America:
1️⃣ Tortillas de Maíz (Corn Tortillas)
History: Originated over 12,000 years ago in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico
Description: Flattened, nixtamalized corn-based dough commonly used for tacos or fried as tortilla chips
2️⃣ Arepas
History: Traceable back to the indigenous peoples of modern-day Venezuela and Colombia
Description: A round cornmeal patty stuffed with everything from beans and plantains to cheeses and meats
3️⃣ Pupusas
History: Originated around 2,000 years ago in the Pipil tribe occupying modern-day El Salvador and Honduras
Description: Various cheeses, beans, and meats are added to masa, flattened, and griddled; commonly served with curtido de repollo and a tomato-based salsa
4️⃣ Atol de Elote
Popular Central American street market fare consisting of pulverized corn heated up with milk, sugar, and various spices
5️⃣ Pastel de Choclo
History: Traditional Chilean dish found throughout South American that likely originated from the Mapuche in Southern Chile
Description: A casserole with layers of creamy corn, ground beef, raisins, olives, and hard-boiled eggs
6️⃣ Pozole
A Mexican soup made with hominy (nixtamalized whole corn kernels made from dent or flint corn), meats, chiles, and other aromatics
7️⃣ Majarete
History: A traditional Caribbean dessert
Description: A creamy corn pudding consisting of corn, coconut milk, spices, milk, sugar, and cornstarch; commonly served chilled with cinnamon
8️⃣ Sopa Paraguaya
History: Some trace its origins to the Cario-Guaraní indigenous people while others insist it was a cooking accident in the mid-1800s
Description: A cheesy cornbread traditionally served with grilled meats
#AmazingMaize #LatinAmericanCuisine #MaizeDishes #CornRecipes #TraditionalFood #IndigenousCuisine
Most Recent News
Chefs Serve Meals Made With Local Ingredients at Cornell College’s Eat Local Challenge
Chefs from Bon Appétit serve meals made entirely from ingredients harvested or raised within 150 miles on Tuesday as part of Cornell College’s Eat Local Challenge. Students, staff and community members got the chance to try out the foods and learn about where those different ingredients come from.
California’s Food Recovery Program is the First of its Kind in the US
In the first three months of 2024, Bon Appétit Management Company (BAMCO) cafes in California donated 65,596 pounds of food. As a food service provider for more than a thousand universities and corporate campuses across the US, BAMCO first began a food recovery program in 2015.
Chase Center’s first lady of flavors
Kristela Nazario-Mendoza is a proud Filipino-American. Her journey to becoming Chase Center’s culinary director began in the Philippines, in fact, and is both inspiring and aspirational.
Join Us
We’re always looking for great people to join our teams! If you:
- Get excited when fresh, local produce arrives on your loading dock
- Enjoy creating all-new dishes from scratch
- Love interacting with people through delicious and nutritious food
- Thrive when part of a close-knit team that takes your and others’ safety seriously
- Enjoy helping people reach their full potential, nourishing them through at-work learning opportunities
Then you may be a fit for us!