Celebrating Summer – and Sustainable Food – with CUESA and a Bon Appétit chef
On Sunday, July 10, join the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) and dozens of Bay Area chefs and food luminaries, including Bon Appétit’s Oracle – Redwood Shores Executive Chef, Robbie Lewis, for cooking demonstrations and seasonal tastes at the first Summer Celebration. The event will be held in the beautiful, historic San Francisco Ferry Building from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with more than 60 local chefs, businesses, and sustainable farmers providing tasty treats and drinks for guests to enjoy to raise money for CUESA.
Bay Area locals might only know CUESA as the hosts of the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmer’s Market. In truth, CUESA provides much more as part of its educational mission, including free cooking demonstrations, low-cost kitchen skill-building classes, the new Schoolyard to Market program, and scholarships that help sustainable farmers become leaders in their field. All funds raised from the event will go to support these programs.
Robbie is no stranger to either upscale dining or sustainable food. After moving west in 1992 to attend the California Culinary Academy, he met Bon Appétit partner Traci Des Jardins, who also has a passion for local and sustainable food, Traci became Robbie’s mentor, offering him his first Bay Area restaurant position at Rubicon. He went on to be on the opening teams of Boulevard and Jardiniére, among others, and complete a short stint at Chez Panisse. He later returned to Jardinére as executive chef.
After 19 years in the Bay Area restaurant scene, he joined Bon Appétit and now serves as the executive chef at Oracle. Along with his experience in the kitchen, he brough his dedication to sustainable food with him, and he has hosted Community Supported Agriculture programs on Oracle’s campuses and introduced other ideas centered on local and sustainable food. He can often be found shopping with his two daughters at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market, so he’s thrilled to help support CUESA’s work through the Summer Celebration.