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Sustainability
us to manage the budget that we are given, so it is a win-win
for everybody,” said Julian. “We hit our numbers, the students
get great food, various selections of cuisines with the freshest in the area. In addition to everything that Epicurean is doing
produce available any given week. When you purchase local
and seasonal, you are doing the right thing, from the students’
aspect, but also from the background monetary aspect of the
company. I hate to bring this up, but it is about dollars and
cents, but if you manage to what is happening in the fields
you are always going to be right.”
Waste management is also important. “Another one of the
key things we do is watch all of our production so we are not
wasting the resources we have been given here,”
said Julian. “That does not mean running out of
anything, but it means very closely monitoring
what the students are eating and adjusting our
menus.”
Dining is also working with the local govern-
ment of Marin County with its sustainable prac-
tices. “For a few years now, Marin has been trying
to pioneer more sustainable practices countywide,”
said Dr. Paul Raccanello, Dominican’s dean of
students. “For years they were doing a lot of
composting. They have always been big in the
recycling. The sanitation district is probably one
of the pioneers in the country. They started a
Food-to-Energy program about two years ago,
where basically, they take compost that goes into
a special bin and at their plant, they have these
20 | OCTOBER 2016
anaerobic digesters that convert it all into methane gas. They
use the gas to power the water treatment plant and other things
on the front end, they are also working with our community
partners so that we can be as sustainable as possible in the
back end, as well.”
Dining Services serves most of its meals in the dining
hall; but when students need to take items to go, they make
sure to use compostable products from World Centric. “They
are one of the partners that we have had with Epicurean for
years now,” said Julian. “With any of the box lunches that we
do for any faculty events, if that is the direction they want
to go, everything will go into compost. It will break down
in 60-80 days.”
Dining is also concerned with animal welfare. “It is the
right thing to do and one of the foundations of Epicurean
Group. With the students and their ongoing education, they
want to know how the food was raised. We can tell them that
that chicken was running around the field. The eggs that we
use are cage-free.”
Epicurean also is open about its policies with students.
“It is not a significant percentage, but there is a percentage
that, from day one, there is an interest, if not a passion, for
learning how their food is sourced, where it is coming from
and the sustainable aspect behind the meals they get in the
dining hall,” said Raccanello. “For students, it is an issue for
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