Sustainable Food Advocate to Speak at Redlands Forum

Helene York Will Discuss Environmental, Social, and Ethical Impacts of Our Food Choices

September 28, 2010

Redlands, California—The upcoming Redlands Forum will feature sustainable food systems expert Helene York. In her presentation, Let's Talk About Food: A Three-Course Conversation, York will explore questions about what we eat today and examine prevailing myths that dominate the current debate about how we should eat. The event will take place in Redlands, California, at the Esri Conference Center, 380 New York Street, on Thursday, September 30, at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free.

"Even as more people come to know about where their food comes from, consumers are still confounded about health and sustainability implications of their choices," said York. "Folklore and marketing claims dominate our perceptions and make it hard to know what's true. As a supply chain manager, I have a chance to get to the bottom of a lot of false claims."

Since 2005, York has served as the director of the Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation, which educates chefs and consumers about how food choices affect the global environment and works to catalyze supply chain changes. She is also director of purchasing policy for the company, which serves 120 million meals a year around the country, including the food service and catering at the University of Redlands. In April 2007, she launched the company's Low Carbon Diet program to raise awareness of the connection between the food system and climate change and alter what her company serves. The result has been a monthly reduction of more than 60 million pounds of CO2-equivalent emissions annually.

York has also been the driving force behind building the business case for serving sustainable seafood for Compass Group NA, Bon Appétit's parent company. As a result, Compass annually diverts purchases of approximately one million pounds of unsustainably sourced seafood.

York is a founding board member of the nonprofit FishChoice, which provides an online resource for chefs to locate sustainable seafood supplies. She is also a regular contributor to the Atlantic Monthly's Food Channel.

Redlands Forum presentations are sponsored by Esri and the University of Redlands through the university's Town & Gown organization. To learn more about upcoming Redlands Forum events and speakers, visit www.esri.com/culturalseries or call 909-748-8011.

# # #

Press Information:
Emily Vines-Pierce, Esri
Tel.: 909-793-2853, extension 1-3571
E-mail (press only): press@esri.com
General Information: info@esri.com