Summer 2012 - NACUFS Food Management Interns!

I just can't believe how fast time has flown since we began, and last week was quite the adventure! Fiona and I had the opportunity to attend the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference Program held at UC-Davis. First of all, if you ever get the chance to visit this university, I recommend it highly. Its campus is not only beautiful, but also displays some of the best sustainability practices in the area as a university. UC-Davis houses student farms in which produce is grown and then used for consumption and processing in the dining halls! Not only that, but cars are scarce as most everyone gets around via bicycle....they are EVERYWHERE. People aren't driving around lots full of cars for parking, they're in search of a space on one of the various bike racks gathered in their own lots. I really learned a lot at this conference regarding projects for improved sustainability, including a procedure that takes advantage of the anaerobic digestion of waste products. Rapid conversion of waste material into usable gaseous products lowers the emission of greenhouse gases. I am amazed at the strides our country has taken to preserve our planet, and especially among the universities. I also learned a lot about the different compostable products on the market to replace the "landfill" waste products you find on college campuses everywhere, including items made out of sugar cane and cornstarch! Pretty awesome stuff. It's so important as mass food-service providers to keep in mind how much waste is produced on a daily basis, and then work to eliminate it as best as possible. If anything has an impact on the health of the earth, educational institutions definitely play a huge role.

Wednesday that same week, Fiona, Renee, and myself took a day trip to Napa and St. Helena! We had a tour of the Culinary Institute of America, it was such a refreshing visit to observe these young artists at work creating beautiful, edible dishes. We were able to walk in on a "sugars" class where they were melting sheets of sugar in all different colors and then molding them into objects, among them the most popular were birds and flowers. I believe they were to be cake toppers, just beautiful..and I was so envious. Renee did her Dietetic Internship at Napa State Hospital, so she arranged a visit and tour of the foodservice facilities there, and it was also quite a site. The building was built in the forties and had SO much space for storage, including ten refrigerating units and a couple of freezers...all located in a LONG hall-way. It was impressive. On the tour we were shown the old bakery area and the giant ovens from when the operation first ran that were still standing. It was all very fascinating, and I the cleanliness was impecable for such an old building. We then ventured into town and had a delicious lunch followed by a trip to a bakery for some dessert, and had the opportunity to see a restarant that grew its own produce, it's called French Laundry and its gardens were beautiful. We didn't eat there though...very very expensive place as you can probably imagine.

This weekend I visited San Francisco again, we toured Alcatraz! It was way cooler than I thought it would be...a very sad place, but SO rich with history. I learned a lot there.

This week we are continuing to work on our Early Childhood Education Program Policy and Procedure Manual, with a few field trips scheduled as well. Our video production (an employee training video) is underway and we should be finished filming by Friday, the other students we're working with are so much fun, we had a blast this afternoon. I also forgot to mention that we got to work in Peet's coffee shop that is owned by the university...that was SO fun. We got to play barista and create fun coffee drinks. I wish we could do that again! I always knew I would love to work in a coffee shop.