Collab: Culinary Institute of America x Harvard University
BY CHEF ERIK OBERHOLTZER
Menus of Change Event with the Culinary Institute of America at Google Pier 57
Ten years ago, leaders at The Culinary Institute of America and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health posed three questions about the future of the culinary profession and the foodservice industry:
What if our most delicious foods—just coincidentally—were, or could be, also healthy and environmentally sustainable?
What if America’s most talented chefs, scientists, and business leaders, along with today’s culinary students, were collectively engaged in driving towards business-friendly solutions to our public health crisis and our most pressing environmental problems like climate change and water scarcity?
Together, the CIA and Harvard have been working to create a long-term, practical vision for the integration of optimal nutrition and public health, environmental stewardship, restoration, and social responsibility concerns within the foodservice sector and beyond.
At the core of Menus of Change are our Principles of Healthy, Sustainable Menus. These provide chefs and foodservice leaders with menu and recipe guidance related to health and sustainability, along with business strategies that integrate both environmental and nutrition science imperatives.
I joined the CIA-Harvard Menus of Change Industry Leadership Council at Google in NYC and here were my takeaways:
We need to continue the journey towards plant forward menus across all categories of dining. This does not mean we eliminate animal protein. Rather, we aim to shift the emphasis and volume from animals to plants.
Deepen our commitment to regenerative agriculture and biodiversity in our supply chains.
Remove historical silos between human health and planet health. What is good for one must be good for the other for us to shape a more resilient future.
Advance equity at all levels of the value chain so everyone participates in the better food movement.
Lean into whole foods with intense, craveable flavor instead of falling into the same mistakes as the past that relied too heavily on ultra processed, cheap foods that have caused epidemic healthcare issues in the US.
Meet people where they are and nudge them towards the future we align around.
The call-to-action for you is to align your own menus or internal business objectives around how your company impacts our climate. We are happy to share what we are learning with you, as that is our mission at Cohere.
Please get in touch today!
