Through this presentation there was a new light shined on Parkhurst and their sustainability, more than I had known. Their program requires regular research into all products to ensure that they are either local sources, or products that use local ingredients even if they are a little further away. This concept is their program called Know Your Source, and this is just the beginning of what it entails. The majority of food on this company comes from local sources, usually within 250 miles of the school. Jamie Moore, Parkhurst’s sustainability director stated that this is the hardest next step towards a more sustainable food service, and in some cases it can’t be any more sustainable without losing too much money.

Before this presentation I knew very minimal about how a food service like Parkhurst runs, as well as how the food industry as a whole works. The story that struck me the most was the chicken example that Jamie used, because before this I had no idea that “cage-free” didn’t mean what the name suggests when you think about it. If anything I feel as though it is a worse method, and through his lesson we learned that it needs to be certified organic if you don’t want the chickens to be penned as they are in a “cage-free” farm. In our society now, GMOs are used in almost every service without knowing the adverse effects, and I will continue now to appreciate Parkhurst’s initiative in making us not only more sustainable, but also healthier.

When looking into sustainability on a campus such as ours, I think that the culinary services are a very good place to start. Parkhurst is continuously improving, providing more sustainable products, as well as helping out small businesses whenever they can. Compared to Sodexo in the past, I believe that Parkhurst could easily, and hopefully will, make our dining services as sustainable as they can be, and after the presentation I’m happy and confident that they are here to do it right.