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In the United States, 40% of food goes uneaten. Just so we’re clear, that’s nearly half. Yet one in every six Americans lacks a secure supply of food. Waste is happening at every part of the supply chain: thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables are being left in the fields to rot, blemished produce are being tossed at our supermarkets, restaurants are dumping perfectly good leftovers, and consumers are letting food waste away in their refrigerators. Clearly, we have a problem.

As the Midwest Fellow for Bon Appetit Management Company Foundation, I get to work with folks at BAMCO-operated colleges across the country, from my home in Minneapolis, MN, all the way south to Austin, TX; west to Denver, CO; and east to Cleveland, OH. Since much of my travel this semester happened to be all in a row (I’ll be with the American Meat screening tour, which BAMCO is cosponsoring, for much of its Colorado and Ohiolegs), I decided I’d set out on my own 10-week tour, henceforth dubbed Piper’s Epic Spring Semester Road Trip.

This Saturday, February 16, join thousands of “foodies,” “farmies,” and leaders in food and farming in watching the TEDxManhattan: Changing the Way We Eat conference. Bon Appétit is very honored that Maisie Greenawalt, our vice president of strategy, was selected to present. During the third session, Empower, which starts at 4pm EST, Maisie will speak frankly about “How the Humane Sausage Gets Made” — how a large corporation like Bon Appétit decides to tackle animal welfare issues, and what specific challenges we face in meeting our aggressive deadline of 2015 to end all purchases of pork raised without gestation crates.

We’re pleased to be sponsoring the 10-state screening tour of American Meat, a new documentary that takes an evenhanded look at both the industrial and the pastoral sides of the U.S. meat system. This Thursday, February 5, at 6pm, Stanford University will show American Meat followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Graham, that includes Maisie Greenawalt, Vice President of Strategy for Bon Appétit Management Company

Earlier this month, Macalester College became the tenth school in the country — and the second Bon Appétit education client — to sign a Real Food Campus Commitment. The commitment, which was developed by the student-led nonprofit group Real Food Challenge, is a pledge that commits school administrators to formally prioritizing real food* through increasing procurement of such food as well as community engagement and transparency around food issues.

Food Day is an annual nationwide celebration of healthy, affordable, and sustainable food, and a movement to create more of it. This Thursday, October 24, Bon Appétit locations all across America will proudly celebrate Food Day and its five principles. We’re encouraging our guests to get involved by growing some of their own food, and if they’re students, encouraging them to join Campus Farmers!

Organized by Midwest Fellow S.K. Piper and students at Carleton, St. Olaf, and Macalester Colleges, the seven-farm bike tour and closing party was completely free for participants, funded by in-kind donations and community grants that Piper helped the student organizers secure, with the food cost being covered by the Bon Appétit teams at the three schools.

Many Americans now know the names of the farms that grow their food, but even as we’re urged to eat more seafood for its health benefits, few of us can identify local species or the fishing operations that supply them. The time is ripe for local fish. Please join @bamco and @seafoodwatch for a Twitter chat on Monday, September 24, at 12pm Pacific.