Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Cal Dining at UC Berkeley

Greetings from Cal Dining at UC Berkeley!
My name is Fiona and I'm a nutritional science major at Cornell University.

The first week and a half here has been great. Nicole and I were cordially welcomed and introduced to the food management team. We received our schedule for the next eight weeks, which looks exciting! We'll get experience working in each of the four dining halls here, and also get a look at the different positions at Cal dining such as marketing, PR, working with FoodPro, quality assurance, food allergy management, catering, etc. We'll also get to visit the Culinary Institute of America and go to a Sustainability Conference. 

During our first week here Nicole and I worked with the FoodPro program, editing recipes and adding potential allergens to the ingredient list.  We got to visit the Berkeley Bowl, a huge grocery store with the most unique produce I've ever seen. We went to a gluten-free bakery called Mariposa in Oakland and talked to the owner.  We also went to the Oakland Whole Foods and sat in on two Wellness Club lectures. On our way back to campus we stopped at a high-end chocolate store called Michael Mischer Chocolates and spoke to the owner. We may even get to shadow him making chocolates for an afternoon. We've also got to talk to the Assistant Director of Cal Dining and participate in internal audits.

There are two projects we're working on currently. The first being a training video for student employees. We're working with three UC Berkeley students to make this video. As nutrition majors our focus is correct serving sizes/portions, and allergy awareness. We'll begin filming the video next week! The other project we're currently working on is a policy and procedure maunal for an early childhood education program mealplan.  Let's just say it's a lot of work.

 Bouding Sourdough (above)
Great view of the Golden Gate (below)

 Michael Mischer Chocolates (below)
 Ghiradelli Square Chocolate Factory (below)
 Gluten Free Bakery (below)
 Beach!! (below)
 Thai Food MMM (below)
During the weekend Nicole and I took the BART to San Francisco. I fell in love with that city! We visited the Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, Boudin Sourdough, Chinatown, and North Beach. I can't wait to visit Alcatraz Island and to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge!

It's been great so far and it's only going to get better! These 8 weeks will sure go by fast.

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