CIA Commencement 2010

Good morning – I am so honored to be speaking at your graduation.

I stand before you today as a chef who graduated over 30 years ago from CIA – but more importantly I stand before you today as a Lunch Lady – yes as a school Lunch Lady – a fact I’m extremely proud of and a story that I want to share with you as well.  But first I want to tell you what I think are the most important take aways for you from my talk today:

Success – Passion – Compassion – Risk Taking – Learning – Integrity and Giving Back – those are the words I want to begin with the most important words that I hope you HEAR today.

My story – why for me success has been all about all those specific words.

When I graduated from CIA the food world was in many ways much simpler. Oh we had challenges, I was 1 of only 3 women in our class of 72 and there were almost no female role models.  All of the chefs were European men whose perception of women in the kitchen left much to be desired – but thankfully for the most part today women have become an integral part of the food world as chefs, restaurateurs, wine makers and managers.

However in many ways the ideals of food were not near as complicated as they are today.  We didn’t have HFCS – we didn’t have added trans-fats – we didn’t have highly processed foods with words on their labels that only a scientist can understand and that have no relationship to the food you’re learned to cook here with the chefs at CIA.

30 years ago chefs weren’t TV stars, rock stars, book authors and certainly not going to the white house and educating Politician’s.

30 years ago the ideas of sustainable food, organic food, farm fresh food were all years in the making.  30 years ago big corporations didn’t spend $20B a year marketing junk food to kids, telling us that cereals high in sugar are a Smart Choice or can stave off the flu.  30 years ago hormones in milk were in the future, our ocean’s weren’t collapsing, climate change wasn’t burning up our food, oil spills and agricultural run-offs weren’t killing all our fish and most importantly 30 years ago we didn’t live in a world where 3 out of 4 adults and 1 out of 3 children were over-weight or obese.  30 years ago we didn’t live in a world where the CDC has said that the children born in the yr 2000 will be the 1^st generation in our country’s history to die at a younger age than their parents – because of what we feed them.

A much simpler world!  But not the world you’re about to go out into and become the leaders and stewards of.

Back to those words: Success – Passion – Compassion – Risk Taking – Learning – Integrity and Giving Back – because the complicated world that you’re embarking on will demand all of these values – you truly are the stewards not only of our food supply but of the health of our nation as well.

I found my passion and love in the culinary world – I often say it saved my life – I hope you have found yours here as well.

My career has spanned over 30 years.  Success has been about taking risks – accepting my first Executive Chef job just a few years out of school and from there working all over the country and in Europe – from working as a chef in my own small restaurant to large corporations, cruise ships and hotel chains to starting a catering company – where we catered everything from back stage for the Grateful Dead – to parties of 20,000 and as well to writing 4 books.

And all from a love of food and cooking.

And then my career took some spiraling curves – In writing my second book Bitter Harvest I began to realize that our food system is flawed – that our food makes us and our children sick – is owned by large corporations where profit is more important than nature or nuture – that much of the food we feed children especially in schools makes them sick and that we’re putting the entire planet in jeopardy as well.  This line of thought led me to accept a position as Executive Chef of the Ross School in East Hampton – where I left the celebrity chef white table restaurant world to become the lunch lady that I am today.

I realized that it was time to take my success and my passion and begin to give back.  What if I could Change the Way We Feed Our Children – what if I could help teach children about food and what if I could impact our children’s children’s children lives by helping them to understand food webs – healthy food – the necessity of sustainable agriculture and supporting farmers to produce healthy food for all generations to come.

My career as a lunch lady was launched and after 5 years I left the Ross School and went on to work with Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation where we totally overhauled Berkeley’s School food.  We started serving kids fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, whole grains, clean protein – no HFCS – no added trans-fats – no chemicals – just food and for that I started to be called the Renegade Lunch Lady.  Think about that – renegade for serving kids broccoli.  The Berkeley project was not only successful but led the way for schools all across the country to begin this change.  But over time I figured out that we can’t change children’s relationship with food – one school district at a time.

My latest project and perhaps one that you want to help me with is the Lunch Box.  I started a foundation and we’re working on a national level to change school food all across the country.  We’re working on putting all of the tools a school district would need to segue from highly processed food to scratch cooked real food onto a website and we’re going to give it all away for free to all schools.

The reason: there’s nothing more important than our children’s health and frankly if we don’t teach children what real food is and where it comes from – all of you chefs will be cooking plastic processed food, because that’s all kids will want to eat.

Well that’s way more about me than you ever wanted to know – but the telling helps contextualize the thoughts that I hope to leave you with.

Passion – always follow your heart and your dreams – that is the true road to success.  Know what you love to do and just do it and don’t be afraid to take risks – for risk takers are the people whose road to success rises the highest and fastest.

Be unabashedly self-promoting – I say this a bit tongue and cheek – but it’s important – if you want to succeed – to change the world – or be the best you can be in the world – then the world needs to know who you are – know what you know and sing your own praises – loud – clear and at the top of your lungs.

Have compassion and understanding – for all those you work with – find the best in your employees and co-workers and support and nurture them for without them your own success will never be accomplished.

Learn, be a life-long learner and learn from everyone around you – one of my dishwashers taught me to butcher meat and a couple of horseman in Peru taught me to field dress a lamb with a pocket knife – learn from all those around you and in all ways you can.

And learning means making up your own mind – having Integrity – morals – ETHICS, be wary of those who want to “pay” you for the beliefs they want you to have.  At the end of the day being true to yourself, your ideals and your ethics, even in the face of adversity, is something that you’ll be remembered for long after all else is forgotten.

Look around you today and remember your fellow students, Chefs and teachers – all of our world’s – the arenas we play to are extremely small – never burn bridges – always be respectful and professional – you never know when that employee or co-worker might be your boss – or know your potential employer.

Balance your life – don’t confuse having a career with having a life – Make time to dream – to play – read books and get exercise – take care of YOU and those you love – sometimes it can feel too “risky” to take time away from your career path to have a family – or spend time with your family or follow a dream – but remember – whatever’s going on at work is just a moment in time — you need good health to be successful and that means physical – emotional and spiritual – balance work and life – because life really is too short.  I always tell my cooks that to be successful – you have to taste everything and I think that no matter the career path that you choose – that the adage holds true – taste food – life – loves and work with equal passion and gusto.

Give back and give back graciously with an open heart.  Whether it’s teaching children – working with farmers – or taking care of your employees to the best of your abilities – giving is as much about success as financial rewards and acclaim.

Lastly I want to remind all of you that you’re our future – you hold the future of the earth – our food system – our farms and farm workers – and our children and our children’s children health in your hands.  No matter what your career path – you hold the key.  It’s often said that we inherit the earth from our ancestors – but I believe that we hold it in trust for our children – that truly we borrow this place and we must begin to realize that we have to give back to the earth and to our children by ending the environmental degradation that’s consuming us.

So as I dedicate myself to leaving our world a better place than I found it – I want you all to think about what you can do to make our world better for the graduating class of 2050.

Think about how your work will impact the children born in 2025 and possibly standing in rooms such as these by 2050.  Where ever your passions lead you – where ever your heart takes you – whatever career you follow I hope that whether it be cooking – or farming – or winemaking or restaurant operations – or parenting or even being a lunch lady like me – that you realize that you make the difference – that you are the difference — that you hold the world’s future in your hearts and hands.

May you all follow your dreams and passions towards a successful life with more joy than tears – a life filled with good friends and family and to be living in a world where peace, health, social equity, freedom and planetary ecology aren’t just a dream.

Thank you.