The Center for Economic and Workforce Developments (CEWD) newest initiative, Brooklyn FoodWorks hosted a panel discussion entitled:  Sustainability and Urban Agriculture at Kingsborough Community College on April 14, 2011. The panel discussed the growing market for locally grown/sourced food and how Kingsborough is helping to support and equip the workforce with the skills needed to thrive in this new growing "green" economy. Attendees also heard from sustainable restaurants about their experience in incorporating urban agriculture.

       Moderating our panel was Dr. Jonathan Deutsch, Associate Director of the CEWD and Director of the Culinary Arts program within the Department of Tourism and Hospitality. Panelists included Mara Gittleman, Brooklyn FoodWorks Program and Curriculum Developer and Linda Bryant, Executive Director of the Active Citizen’s Project. The panel also featured 5 sustainable restaurants: Fornino Pizzeria, Egg Restaurant, iCi, Jimmy’s No. 43, and James Restaurant. In attendance were Kingsborough students, staff and faculty.

        Questions that were asked were:

• Please describe your green/sustainability initiatives and how they fit into that concept.
• What challenges do you face in carrying out your vision?
• What workforce needs have you identified?

 While their answers were similar they are all unique in their own ways.

Restaurants agreed that sourcing locally leads to great taste while providing healthier options to families and bringing awareness about the environment. When it came to green jobs, restaurants stated that once a restaurant incorporates green practices every job becomes green. Restaurants made it clear that being green is not easy. You need to be flexible to your options in terms of when fruits and vegetables are in seasons or when they become ripe. With the recent weather it makes it difficult to know what will be available. They also commented on the availability of farmers. Restaurants need to be resourceful to where they will get their food. None the less these restaurants are committed to being sustainable and they are able to provide healthier options because they care about the environment and their customers.

Michael Ayoub, the owner of Fornino grows some of this produce in Long Island and gets some of it from the Union Square Green Market. Fornino is a wood burning pizzeria. The wood that they use is a byproduct from furniture. Michael believes that without great soil you can’t grow a good food.

Egg is located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. At Egg every job is a green job.  They teach all of their employees what it means to be green and make sure that everyone knows how their restaurants is green and where they source their food from. They run a 6 acre farm in Oak Hill, NY. Three seasons of produce comes from their own farm. They also get produce from Green Markets. The mission at Egg is to expand the availability of good food to people who don’t have access to it. They are reaching that goal by supporting local groups that have the same goal. They have a partnership with Automotive High school where they have been developing an organic garden as part of a program called “The Land, Food, and You”. This program teaches teenagers about food and agriculture. They expose them to gardening and debates about good policy. They also take them on trips to local farms. Egg also hosts cooking classes and provides job training for the students.

Catherine Saillard opened iCi in 2004. Her goal was to serve good food to the community, food that is naturally produced. She supports Urban Farms such as the Red Hook Urban Farm. Catherine believes that the best food is food that you can pick and have on your plate. She builds her relationships with farmers through green markets. She says that they set a standard and are always expanding. Every job in her restaurant is a green job.

Jimmy Carbone, the owner of Jimmy’s No 43 has owned restaurants for 20 years. He tried to go green in 2002 by changing his menu everyday based on the produce he can get, but stopped and closed his restaurant because people weren’t responding to it in a good way. He said that people weren’t ready from “Green”. Now Jimmy supports larger community farms. He tries to buy directly from farmers as much as he can. He also has 4 farms that distribute produce from his restaurant.  Jimmy’s No. 43 participates in programs such as Teen Battle Chef which is a youth program in over 75 schools.

James restaurant caters to the local community. They host dinners where farmers educate their clients. Bryan Calvert, the chef at James Restaurant says that it’s his job as a chef to educate the consumer and chefs should be flexible and creative in their cooking based on the produce they have in front of them that day. He says that the ingredients that taste the best are local. James Restaurant changes their menu frequently based on what is available for them in that season. They also started a 600 sq. ft. herb garden on their rooftop. They believe every job is green and that it is important that all of their staff knows what being sustainable is, where their food is sourced from, and that they all work in their garden to better understand where their food comes from.