Good Food Jobs is a gastro-job search tool, designed to link people looking for meaningful food work with the businesses that need their energy, enthusiasm, and intellect. We post opportunities with farmers and food artisans, policy makers and purveyors, retailers and restaurateurs, economists, ecologists, and more.
the gastrognomes is a blog for food lovers who want to put their passions to work. We profile the most interesting, engaging, and unlikely food professionals that we find, and we publish them here to inspire you.
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Hello Food Lovers,
Although most feel as if it's the end of Summer already, we seem to think the season's just getting started. Taylor's tomato plants are finally full of ripe fruit and Dorothy is eagerly anticipating her trip to VT to collect a bounty of wild blueberries this weekend. These are the signs of summer we've come to love and live by.
But there is one other reason it feels like Summer just started: Taylor just finished school. You avid newsletter fans know that she had the pleasure of teaching the Food Entrepreneurism class at Sterling College's Vermont's Table program. The 10-week session went far too fast, and she recently left with equal admiration for her students, the college's mission, and the local food entrepreneurs that graced their tiny classroom.
The last lecture was a wildcard, with ten Italian guest students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences (who had come by way of their summer session at the UNH Eco-Gastronomy program) in attendance. Taylor decided to put the students to the test. Their mission was to take all that they saw / heard / learned throughout the course and put it to good use: come up with and pitch a new business idea.
They split up (with equal Italian / American respresentation in each group) and had exactly one hour to come up with a business idea linked to Good Food Jobs and pitch it to Taylor. For what were they competing? The ultimate prize: to be featured in the GFJ newsletter.
The task required them to use all of their entrepreneurial skills: creatively utilize limited resources, effectively communicate their concept, collaborate with others, and make decisions.
We were all impressed with the results:
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an eco-gastronomy tour company that takes food lovers to explore the producers dotting the landscape
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Net-Work: a GFJ conference designed to educate folks looking for good food jobs and allow them to interact with businesses and each other
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The Job Fare: a farmers market / job fair hybrid; essentially our website in physical form and a place for folks to meet face-to-face across the country
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Ten Thousand Hours Apprentice Program: a subset of GFJ geared toward lasting apprenticeship programs
We judged the ideas based on three main criteria:
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Creativity and potential success of the chosen idea
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How closely it aligned with and promoted GFJ's mission
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Ability to effectively communicate the concept
It was a tough decision, as each group had different strengths...but in the end someone has to win. So without any further ado, the winner is: #4: The Apprentice Program!
Why did we choose the apprentice program?
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Classmates Alexis Zimba-Kirby and Eliza Mutino worked with their Italian counterparts to create a unique, informative, and humorous presentation, acting out a skit for a cheesemaker in need of a passionate apprentice to help her build the business
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It addresses two real needs: 1) for small food businesses to make use of the energy of passionate people, and 2) to rebuild our food culture by promoting shared knowledge and expertise
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Although other businesses were conceptually stronger than theirs (for instance, we LOVED the idea of The Job Fare, as it's exactly the type of event we'd love to go to, and the name Net-Work was completely brilliant) the apprentice program addressed GFJ's interest in providing tangible services to get more people involved in more good food related jobs, while utilizing the existing resources we have developed (mainly internet based communication tools to bring people together).
Thank you to all of the students for continually opening our eyes.
If you like working with students and love the stimulating environment of a college campus, Sterling College is looking for an Assistant Kitchen Manager to work with Anne Obelnicki, the Director of Sustainable Food Systems. It's the perfect way to parlay solid kitchen experience with your interest in building lasting food systems.
Until next week . . .
Taylor & Dorothy
Co-Founders, Good Food Jobs
GOOD (FOOD) NEWS
The Best Ice Cream Just Got Better at New Amsterdam Market
They're gearing up for the Ice Cream Sunday on Sunday, Aug 21 and - knowing our affinity for the frozen treat - they are offering Good Food Jobs subscribers a special discount.
Get 20% off the general admission. That means you get 8 mini cones for $20. The gates are open from 1pm-4pm (i.e. 3 hours of pure heaven).
Purchase tickets at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/191565. Just be sure to do two things:
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Enter the promo code icecreamGFJ11 to get your discount
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Act fast! There are a limited number of discounted tickets available.
THE GASTRO.GNOMES BLOG
Sarah Wilhelm
Health Coach / Yoga Teacher / Local Seasonal Foods Chef / Aspiring Farmer
It's not uncommon for us to discover like-minded friends via email, when a new acquaintance notices the signature at the bottom of our messages and says, 'Hey, I know Good Food Jobs!' This is exactly what happened to Dorothy when she contacted her prenatal yoga instructor to warn her that she'd be missing an upcoming class (it's a funny thing about being pregnant - when you don't show up for a regularly scheduled event, people tend to worry). It didn't take long for her to commission an interview from Sarah, whose background reads like a classic good food fairytale. And in this case, Sarah is definitely the fairy godmother, or perhaps Tinkerbell, dusting everyone she meets with an infectious passion for her work. Read More
Follow our weekly blog profiles at goodfoodjobs.com/blog.
GOOD FOOD JOB HIGHLIGHTS
and over 400 other active jobs, too . . . see the full website for the latest.
ORGANIC FARM KITCHEN MANAGER
Pete's Greens
Craftsbury, VT
Calling all food preservation fanatics: this is the job for you. If you pickle, freeze, preserve or "put up" the bounty of the harvest, Pete's wants to enlist your help. This organic vegetable farm has a lot to offer Northeast Vermont all winter long with the right person running the show in their kitchen.
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
FoodCorps
New York, NY
Put you expertise in finance and philanthropy to good use with FoodCorps. They need your help building the business side of their national service program, sure to change the way America eats in the coming decades.
ASSISTANT KITCHEN MANAGER
Sterling College
Craftsbury Common, VT
This is not your average college dining hall. Sterling's food service is - hands down - the closest thing that you can get to a home-cooked meal, in the best possible way. If you have an urge to take care of the Sterling family by marrying your experience in food service with your desire to do good, then reach out to the director, Anne. She's waiting for you.
ARTISAN BAKER
Alpine Bakery
Yukon Territory, Canada
We dare you to read this job description and not want to apply.
see more good food jobs at goodfoodjobs.com
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