December's Green Superstar: Chef Glen

Green Superstar

December 2013

Chef Glen Tinsley

Hopefully you've noticed by now that Bon Appetit has hired a new chef. What you may not have noticed yet is that he has some strong opinions that he's not afraid to share, and some of them are environmentally relevant. Food isn't just his job--it's part of his life philosophy.

“I cook how I wanna eat," says Chef Glen.

Because he cooks for us, the way he eats influences the way we eat and what purchasing decisions are made by Soka Bon Appetit.

If there were an obvious, singular choice for how to be "green," we'd obviously be doing that instead of bickering over policies and ethics. That means, of course, that there are many different schools of thought in environmentalism. Chef Glen represents one side of the die.

Appetizer: Where should food come from?

“Organic is an overused term right now,” said Chef Glen. "It’s a prestige thing."

He pointed out that the label has limitations. For example, Farmer John might be certified organic, but what happens if his neighbor is not and the non-organic pollen blows into his yard? Stanford studies have found that, in terms of human health, organic certified produce only has 30% less pesticide residue than non-organic produce.

In other words, Chef Glen is in the camp that says organic agriculture is a great thing but is perhaps overemphasized.

He does, however, have serious concerns about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) after reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. “You don’t know what the long term effect is. Who knows what it does internally.” He said he believes that GMOs have negative effects on human health, including cancers, diabetes, and celiacs disease. He called it "the Pandora's box."

Needless to say, Chef Glen does not buy GMO foods for himself.

He's also a strong proponent of "stuff done right" like Slow Foods and other similar local food movements. More on that in just a second--

Entree: What does the Bon Appetite company require? What does Soka expect of Bon Appetit?

You may remember that on Sept 24, Bon Appetit held its annual Eat Local Challenge. You may have also noticed the occasional farm to fork label on certain foods in the cafeteria.
(Click the links to read more about what these distinctions mean.)

Chef Glen sees these programs as a good first step, but an imperfect one.

When I went to Chef Glenn's office for our interview, the first thing I saw was his bike leaning against the wall. It turns out that he bikes the 10 miles from Laguna Nigel to work almost every day--as long as it's convenient--because he'd rather not waste the gas for 20 miles a day.

It should therefore come as no surprise that Chef Glen is no stranger to the discourse on local food production and consumption.

The Eat Local Challenge, he points out, has some strange limitations and stranger loopholes. For example: to qualify, all produce (fruits and vegetables) must come from within a 150 mile radius of the cafeteria. Fish and meat, on the other hand, can come from as far away as 500 miles from the cafeteria. In this way, the program is not as rigorous as it imagines itself to be. Compliance with these guidelines in Orange County is also very problematic because, although we have year-round sun, most of the produce we eat (60%) doesn't come from here but from the central valley.

Another strange quirk in the farm to fork program is that qualifying farms must be both local and small. A local large farm doesn't count. In some ways, this prioritizes small farms over local farms, even if the small farm is distant. Chef Glen says he tries to support all small farms in Calfornia when possible, farm to fork program aside, but he prefers large local over small and distant.

Last but not least, Chef Glen does not count Tyson chicken as farm to fork... but the Bon Appetit corporation does sometimes.

Clearly, there is some room to improve.

In addition to Bon Appetit's pro-local programs, Soka administration has its own stipulations for our cafeteria. Soka's mission for Bon Appetit is to provide as much organic food as possible...on a budget that equates to about $4 and change per student per meal period. 

Chef Glen said, "The program Soka wants for the students is what I try to give."


Dessert: Chef Glen's philosophy on food purchasing decisions

In spite of both Bon Appetit and Soka's expectations, Chef Glen says, “I do as much as possible my way. If they yell at me, they yell at me.”

When Chef Glenn chooses which companies Soka purchases from, he says, “I won’t buy it til I try it.” One of the ways he tries to do that is to talk to the ranchers themselves, face-to-face. He doesn't talk about VGRF--he talks about Farmer Nick.

In compliance with the Bon Appeti company's farm to fork program, he purchases from as many small farm suppliers as possible. Ideally, he'd love to provide only local food in the cafeteria. He also avoids produce and fish from Mexico when he can, because he prefers to help small farms here in our own country first.

Chef Glen says, “I try as much as humanly possible to keep GMOs out of the kitchen.” What is in the kitchen is organic flour, organic sugar, organic lentils, organic brown rice, organic beans, fair trade chocolate... when he orders it. (Slip-ups do happen.)

And compromises do happen as well. Kellogg's, for example, is probably GMO and probably Monsanto. Chef Glen calls it a necessary overlap. "Money talks."

Of course, there are also compromises between Chef Glen and the students. It's not financially possible to accommodate everyone, but he does his best to buy best product available. When it comes down to it, he will cater to the majority over the minority. "Certain things have to be on the menu," says Chef Glen. "We have a lot of students from Japan, so we're going to have miso soup every day. You can’t please everyone." He does read all the comment cards, even when he doesn't post them. He said he doesn't want to make promises or hurt anyone's feelings.

He would, however, like to involve more students though the Soka Instructional Garden (SIG.) He coordinated with Farmer Nick at VGRF to donate seedlings for the SIG full moon party: some Italian heirloom varietals, some organic, some untreated. He has suggested that students avoid growing a tiny bit of many things. In the past, students have brought scattered amounts of produce to the cafeteria as they could, but usually not enough for a full meal period. Chef Glen would prefer to see the SIG produce enough of all one item to provide full meals.

For his part, Chef Glen is not going to be the one to fight a big corporation...but he can do what he needs to do here. He would like to see changes made to the farm to fork program to make it more realistic, such as making the requirements for meat and produce the same. He'd also like it to be easier for small farms to become certified.

In the meantime, Chef Glen offers imperfection as a part of the journey, playing an important role: “Because farming is a living thing, the perfection thing is out the window. Perception of perfection makes you lazy, stops you from continuing to reach forward."


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 If you know someone who deserves recognition as a GREEN SUPERSTAR in the coming months, please message us below, on Facebook, or at SSU_EnvironmentalDepartment@soka.edu .