I've been cooking professionally for more than 45 years. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 1983, I began my career in fine dining, working in both New York City and Chicago.
Everything changed when one of my children became seriously ill. As we focused on nourishing her with clean, whole foods, I saw firsthand the profound impact nutrition could have on health. That experience sparked a new mission: helping children everywhere have access to healthier food.
For more than 20 years, I've worked across the country teaching large school nutrition programs and cafeteria teams how to prepare real, nourishing food at scale.
Today, we've taken that mission even further by launching a nonprofit organization. Our goal is to provide public schools with the technology, systems, and training they need to serve healthier meals to students—and we're now seeking the funding and support to make those resources available to schools nationwide.
Save your seat inside The Confident Mama Masterclass → Join the Workshop here
Apply for my coaching program and get access to HTMA testing here → Apply Today
Use my link for JustIngredients to get 10% off (or enter code: thewellnourishedmama) → Shop JustIngredients here
Find more resources and recipes from Chef Greg and his team at beyondgreenpartners.com
Brooke Harmer: forgot to ask, is there anything in particular that you want to make sure that we mention? Whether that's like an upcoming promo that you have or your website or like a project that you're working on, anything that I can be aware of to support
Greg Christian: Yeah, I think the website, you know,
Brooke Harmer: you.
Greg Christian: we just launched a nonforprofit recently called the Sustainable Food Institute of America, and I I would love to, you know, point people at
Brooke Harmer: Okay.
Greg Christian: that.
Brooke Harmer: Awesome. I'll be sure to ask you about that at the end.
Greg Christian: Okay.
Brooke Harmer: Okay. Awesome. Hey, Greg. Thanks so much for joining us today. We're excited to have you here.
Greg Christian: Thanks for having me. I'm
Brooke Harmer: Today's conversation is going to be so good because I feel like this is um a
Greg Christian: honored.
Brooke Harmer: topic close to home for so many moms. I feel like, at least for me, when I sent my kid off to school, one of the first things that went through my mind was what the heck is he going to be fed all day long?
Brooke Harmer: He already has preferences of what he eats and doesn't eat at home. and I'm like super conscious of what my family eats and so I was like like I was so worried about what he's going to eat. So I know that this is going to be like really exciting for the moms listening. Um before we jump into all of that, Greg, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself, your career, and how it's morphed into what you do today?
Greg Christian: Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm a chef. I've been uh working in kitchens professionally for 45 years. So, that's kind of forever. Um and I started, you know, at at at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park and and was mostly a high-end chef uh in New York City and Chicago for, you know, 25 years. Uh my my fancy food career ended with a 17-year stint of owning and running a high-end catering company in Chicago where I worked for, you know, a lot of Fortune50 CEOs and got flown around the country a lot to cook for people that run the world and and that was all great.
Greg Christian: you know that that life was chasing glamour, fame, money and flavor like sign really chasing flavor in food and and just pushing flavor as hard as I could. And then my youngest daughter was sickly uh hospital a lot and then intensive care started regularly. She had really really bad asthma, allergies, allergic to you know 80% of the food on the planet. allergic to almost everything. And so my uh her mom, the primary caretaker, said, "I think we need to tried more than just western medicine. It's not working." And so we went alternative medicine with the western medicine. And you know, really went to every witch doctor in Chicago we could find. And she said we also should go all organic food. And and you know, I and so we did. We were after the second intensive care, you know, it was like it's scary. It's, you know, when your kid is like really sick and in intensive care, it's like what do we do? No more hospital. It wasn't a triple double blind study.
Greg Christian: I can't prove that it was the Eastern medicine and the Western medicine or the organic food. So, no proof. But no more hospital for a little girl. And then, you know, my oldest would come home from school every day and say, "Dad, you wouldn't believe what the other kids eat in school." And I totally, Brooke, I totally didn't care. I didn't tell my oldest that I didn't care, but I totally didn't care. My our kid wasn't going to the hospital anymore. And then one day, I came out of my meditation room and I cared. I can't explain exactly why I cared. And then and then I went to Mayor Daly who was the king, you know, he was king of Chicago and his dad was king before him. So I went to the king who I cooked for and loved and I said, "Mayor Daly, would you open the I have this idea. I want to try to change the way we feed kids in school." He was like, "Absolutely. I'll open that door." So over 20 years ago,
Greg Christian: we went into Chicago public schools, you know, to with a nonforprofit I started back then called the organic school project and totally got our butts kicked, but realized what we had to learn to actually change school food. So over the last 20 plus years, we have owned, practiced, mastered, changing over cafeterias from processed, boxed, frozen, canned, powdered food, which almost all of them are, especially the public schools, to scratch cooking fresh local food in budget.
Brooke Harmer: That's literally every mom's dream. That's literally every mom's dream right there is for her kid to be fed made from scratch food at school.
Greg Christian: Yeah.
Brooke Harmer: And it's it feels like it's just wishful thinking at this point, but you've proved that it's possible.
Greg Christian: Yeah. I mean, I've had people, you know, hang up on me. I had a Mother Jones writer maybe five years ago just say on the phone, "I simply don't believe you and I'm going to hang up now." I'm okay. And she hung up, you know. So, you know, the puzzle, it's really it's it's a few things.
Greg Christian: Well, one is like heading straight into people's immunity to change gently and with a lot of love. So, we we went in to Chicago public schools. The mayor had my back. I cooked for the king and we went in like a fastmoving not nice tank and just like rolled over people because I knew nobody well because I lacked humility as a high-end chef. It's at least you know 100 years ago when that was my life. it was kind of expected that you like weren't real nice and you know whatever you know you you do whatever you want practically commit murder I'm exaggerating but you know and so we've learned that there is an immunity to change in these kitchens maybe everywhere in life but let's just talk about kitchens for this podcast and so how do you how do you you know kind of bump into that? How do you affect that? How do you move into the hearts of people that have been doing it the same way for 20 years? I'll say it like that.
Greg Christian: And so that there's a gentleness there and a love and a and and you have to really listen to their world. And you know, then there's another part about, you know, the food system is really built. The food manufacturers run the kitchens. These aren't bad people. They employ a lot of people. They're probably like really smart. And there's trucks and corn and glyphosate and and and and and it's all like, you know, it's all working at at at one level. People get food, right? But going, you know, suggesting and then and so since it's been over 20 years, I'm jumping around. People don't know how to cook. They don't know how to make literally 200 blueberry muffins and for sure 2,000 blueberry muffins. Now your favorite bakery does maybe you you know what I mean? But but the school people they the mixers are all covered in plastic bags and they have not been turned on for 20 years in general. So there's that and then there's this efficiency piece because we we assert and we have proven for the over 20 years now that the money to buy better food and the time to cook it is in the system.
Greg Christian: So how what do you mean Greg? When I go to Whole Foods that food costs more, you know, than than the lesser expensive grocery stores, right? and and the higherend restaurants that serve better food are more money than the House of Pancakes or whoever. So what do you mean it's costneutral? So there's and I'll tell you really quickly what it means is that there's a ton of for well one the processed food is a fortune because all this work went into it and so if you scratch if you take a menu of all processed food broo and then you scratch cook it you make it from whole ingredients you know from raw chicken and raw eggs and raw flour and whatever the dish is 85% of the time the homemade food is cheaper than the uh than the store-bought food. Now, that's not with organic ingredients. That's just fresh. And then and so there's a savings there. You can afford low local too in those same dollars. Organic gets trickier to hit the numbers.
Greg Christian: But there's also a ton of food waste in these kitchens and they don't measure the food waste. So the first thing we buy them as we love them and listen to them is a scale, a bunch of scales. And we have them start weighing over production every day on a scale. Over production is this. You host Thanksgiving dinner, 20 people come over, there's leftover food. Now, Brooke and her family probably don't weigh it on a scale to to to to make just the right amount of mashed potatoes tomorrow, but it's ideal to weigh it on a scale and get really good at not making more food than you need. They all make more food than they need. And the other thing we like to weigh is plate waste. The food that kids don't eat to show the board members, the kitchen, anyone who's in the parents, like your kid at school right now, if they're eating the school lunch, they're not eating their food. And we just want you to know about it. Not to weaponize it, not to get the kitchen in trouble.
Greg Christian: The kitchen's doing the best they can. They're reheating frozen, processed, canned, powdered foods and combining them. You know, it's every day is like one big green bean casserole or frozen pizza, right? So, this efficiency piece is really critical to bring all the spending as low as you can, savings as much as you can, so then you can buy fresh food. And then the time piece, this is really, this is a little complex. So, we inherited the European style of kitchenness, which is siloed. So when you go to your favorite restaurant and it's an open kitchen, you see the grill person, the dessert person, the salad person, the sauté person, the deep fry person, whatever you see and everyone's in their in their spot. And I learned working in these, you know, a hundred years ago, Chinese restaurants and in New York City that there's a whole another way to operate in a kitchen. And and that is one I call swarming or gang cooking if you will. And so this is not known by most Americans.
Greg Christian: Most Americans we inherited the European style. So it's siloed even in the big kitchens. So even in like if if if you your next hotel wedding if you went there for prep time it's all siloed or derve salad entree sauce dessert. and maybe they help each other a little bit, but it's all siloed. So, we bring this other thing where when it's time to cook, maybe everybody hand patty the burgers, maybe everybody cut the broccoli, maybe everybody, you know, cut the oranges. And so, so, so the team ends up moving like a school of fish rather than stay in your silos. If you don't move like a school of fish, then you need more people and then it's not costneutral. So, we have proven over and over and over all over North America that this is totally costneutral. You can serve fabulous food, locally sourced, heading towards organic. You know, you can we have a kitchen that 90% We have a couple kitchens that like 90% scratch cooking, totally costneutral. They have no more labor in those kitchens.
Greg Christian: But that but if you if if I brought you to the kitchen, let's pretend you're a kitchen person, Brooke, and I brought you to a kitchen, you would be like, I've never seen a kitchen like this. Because they're moving like this school of fish. And just the last thing I want to say is we've got a kitchen in Chicago. That's where I'm talking to you from, Chicago. And um we make about 4,000 preschool meals a day in this kitchen in Chicago. And and and so this is our learning lab. It's a for-profit business and this is our learning laboratory. So everything we bring out to schools and we work in hospitals and jails and older people homes too. I really want to affect if it's meant to be our public school system in the country. Um that's my that that one has my heart. Um and so if you came to that kitchen like all the tables are on wheels so the structure of the kitchen changes every hour and and no one has a station.
Greg Christian: So if you if you walked into the kitchen every five minutes for eight hours, you would see people standing in all different places in the kitchen because they're working like a school of fish. And um yeah, that's that's what we do and that's what we're trying to do more of. We're in like 17 kitchens in Illinois. I got tired of flying and I needed a break from flying, so I said I'm just going to focus on home state. But, you know, we're trying to blow it out. My dream is to affect build as many models around the country, whoever will have us, and then other schools can come and learn from them. And I'm, you know, I'm 65, so I'm I'm not running out of time, but, you know, I'm not going to see this when it's finished. I'm okay with that. But I want to attempt to let's build models and so people in the neighborhood can go learn from those
Brooke Harmer: I absolutely love what you're doing. And I have a follow-up question.
Greg Christian: models.
Brooke Harmer: When we're talking about the average school, we're talking about average people that are in the kitchen, right? So, you've proven that it's possible to keep it costneutral where you can come to the educators and the administrators and say, "Look, you're not going to spend more money making food from like whole foods. Um, so that's amazing. But here's my follow-up question. If we've got average people in these average schools who aren't used to cooking from scratch, can we really help them make that shift? Like, is that an expertise issue? Is it like too much of an investment timewise for these cooks and these volunteers? Like, how does that all work?
Greg Christian: Yeah. So, we wake up their voice. We find out why they work there and how long they've worked there and then ask them what they if they had a magic wand, what would they serve? So try getting them to suspend the how. I would serve my grandma's meatloaf. I would serve my grandma's vegan meatloaf.
Greg Christian: Cool. But I don't know how to do it, so I'm afraid to talk about it. Okay, good. Let's not just suspend the how. Tell me more about your grandma's vegan meatloaf. Oh, well, she became a vegan when she was 30 after the thing. And she's perfected for 40 years this meatloaf. And I would and everybody likes it even if they eat meat. And I would serve that. Good. Tell me more. Can you bring the recipe in? Can we make a batch? We do the same thing with the kids. What do you want to eat? Why do you want to eat that? I want tacos on Tuesday. Why t Oh, I go to my grandma's on Tuesday. She makes t Oh, tell me more. Oh, do you help? Yeah, I help. I pick the salon. Okay, good. So, we get the kids and the cooks like connected to food.
Greg Christian: We also bring them on a farm tour, God willing, so they can like connect to Mother Earth because what these kitchens have turned into is they get they receive units formerly called food, but their boxes they're all unit everything's unitized and then the kids are like units and everyone has forgotten that the kitchen is the heart of the school. So we try to bring that back. We also try to peel away some layers. These people are in pain in general because their kids, their grandkids, the kids that they go to church with throw their food away every day the last 20 years. So, their hearts are hurt. They don't normally admit this in the first meeting and I'm not a shrink so I can't you know but they they have literally seen their customers throw their food away a lot of their food for 20 years and that is so painful. So we kind of gently not bring that up but like go out to the dining room. Hey, let's look in the garbage can.
Greg Christian: Oh wow. They kind of threw a lot of the, you know, the canned peaches away and uh and that frozen burger. Like, what what do you think of that? Well, I don't like it. You know, I want these kids to eat. They have the whole second half of school and it's my job to feed them. That's why I'm here and they're throwing it away. I feel like I'm failing at my job and I have no idea what to do. Okay, good. So, we try to make some room in them for new. We try to pull the new out of them. And and then when we go live with the first scratchcooked breakfast or lunch, you know, we we tell them to go out in the dining room and talk to the kids and see the kids and and the kids are all usually and and maybe it was a kid's idea or one of their ideas and it's a home run and they eat all the thing, you know, the chilias for breakfast, whatever.
Greg Christian: Then they're like that feeling. They haven't had that feeling, that good feeling at work, like really true good feeling in a long time. And then they want more of
Brooke Harmer: I love that.
Greg Christian: that
Brooke Harmer: really making sure that you're touching on the emotion and not and not saying you're so bad for serving this food or I hate big cafeteria. I don't know what we're going to call it. I'm going to call it big cafeteria for the podcast, but like oh I hate big cafeteria. They don't care about our kids. Like it's not that. It's hey like I'm I'm sure that there's a way that you know you
Greg Christian: It's
Brooke Harmer: can participate and I think you want to participate. you just haven't had the how yet, like you said. Um, so that's super cool. What kinds of foods are we talking about when you actually get to make this transition?
Greg Christian: it's
Brooke Harmer: What kinds of foods are these kids eating in school once they adopt the way that you run cafeterias?
Greg Christian: Yeah, they're all different. We've wor, like I said, all over North America, right? And and so what what the kids want and the cooks want to make, it's totally different. Like we did like a high-end school uh in in in in Buffalo, New York, Nardan Academy, very old Catholic. And those kids wanted, you know, certain kind of foods. They wanted, you know, a kick-ass salad bar for sure. And they wanted, you know, cottage cheese and hard-boiled eggs and, you know, steamed chicken. The the the high school is all women. and they wanted, you know, that kind of food. And then we did then we did a charter school on the east side of Buffalo and that food was like totally different. This is like an all black neighborhood and the amount of pepper and spice that these little kids wanted. I'm like, are you sure? Because we we would hear things like we want, you know, I can't remember what, you know, chicken wing, whatever. And and we would samp we always sample it before we serve it, Brooke, because we don't want to say like, well, we we try really hard to walk in humility.
Greg Christian: And so when we go to a neighborhood, we always say like, we're not from here. We don't know what you want to eat, so tell us what you want to. We eat and we'll help the cooks figure out how to make 400 portions of it, right? And and we kept bringing I forget what the dish was to these kids. And they're like little kids. And they're like, "More pepper." I'm like, "More pepper. There's no way." And and so like in Hawaii, right? They they wanted lao and kalúa pork and cabbage. They they they they want what they're used to. Poi. They wanted what people what they grew up eating. And so we figure out how to make it, you know, at one of the high schools we did for like 2,000 kids. So then the cooks were like, they want Kalúa pork and cabbage. We want to give them Kalúa pork and cabbage. We're not sure how to do 2,000 orders of it.
Greg Christian: Well, that's where we come in, right? uh in central Illinois, you know, they you know, they they they want one of the things they want is like, you know, they well they they're starving for like ethnic food, if it's okay that I say that. So, they want like some Chinese and they want some Japanese and they want some, you know, real Italian. They haven't really had real Italian and their their parents are doing the best they can, but they're in like Springfield, Illinois. Maybe there I mean there's some Italian people there and they know how to cook and maybe there's even an Italian store, but when they say like they want Italian food, they're not even sure what they want. But and the cooks aren't sure how to do it. So, you know, a good spaghetti and meatballs, a good pesto pasta with white beans, like kids will eat that up. And the other thing that happens is like we we don't mess with the culturally relevant food. So like in central Illinois they want tater tot casserole, right?
Greg Christian: And I I had never heard of this and I was like oh and and so we don't ever like make fun of people or roll our eyes like ever. Right? So we're like tater tot great idea kid and then we go back to the kitchen. I'm like what's that? So they tell me and then we figure out like how can we make this still probably buying frozen tater tots because it's a school of 500. But then what can we add to it? Can it can the cheese sauce be homemade? Yes, it can with local milk and local Janie's milk flour and local butter. Let's make the rue and and and whatever goes into it. I don't even know what goes into it. I can't remember. So they eat whatever you can imagine. you know, we and we like to start with stuff they really recognize. So, so everybody wants a burger, so let's just buy some local meat and hand patty it. They're like, well, how do we get that done?
Greg Christian: There's 400 kids because we've been for 20 years buying frozen burgers, right? And I'm like, well, here's how. I'll circle up at a table. Well, I'll do it. It'll be done in seven minutes. Um, so we start, we don't start with like kale salad and veganism, right? We start with like what do they recognize? You know, chicken tacos, right? Broccoli and and and we end up with like way more vegetarian food than anybody ever guessed. And and and and the kale salad is, you know, year three maybe, depending on the market. If it's a bigger city, kale salad's coming sooner, right? So, we we helped at a very high-end school in New York City, not a public school, and the kids are like, "We want sushi and kale salad, you know, and I believed them, you know. Uh there's a school that wanted venison and buffalo, so we're actually making buffalo chili." This is in southern Illinois. I thought they were messing with me. I met with a high school group and they're like, "We'd like uh venison and buffalo." And I was like,
Greg Christian: "Are you really?" And they're like, "Yeah, we all eat it all the time. We all hunt venison. We like venison. We'd like to see it on our menu." So, we're doing, you know, buffalo burgers. We're doing I don't think the venison has hit the plates yet, but we're doing buffalo chili. They eat it up. So, it there's a different menu at every place we go.
Brooke Harmer: But it's all made from, well, not all, but like most of it is made from scratch, locally sourced, real food ingredients.
Greg Christian: Yeah.
Brooke Harmer: I love that so much.
Greg Christian: Yeah. Real
Brooke Harmer: I am such a firm believer that kids aren't as picky as we've been led to
Greg Christian: baking.
Brooke Harmer: believe. It's just because we're not giving them good food. Like maybe that's a super unpopular opinion, but in my house, my kids will ask for edetomame for a snack. One, because I'm not shoving a bunch of processed food in the pantry and just saying that's what a snack is called.
Brooke Harmer: Um, and also, I've learned how to prepare food in a way that actually makes it taste good. And so when I introduce new foods to my kids, I'm introducing it with salt and I'm introducing it with a homemade sauce or whatever. and they're getting to try these new foods. And so my 2-year-old likes edetomame. My one-year-old likes um you know, shephardd's pie. And you sit back and you're like, this it's just real food. And I'm so convinced that if we like what you're doing, if our kids had more opportunities to be exposed to made from scratch food that not only would their health improve, but also their pallet would improve. they would be more willing to try new foods and they actually wouldn't be as picky as we think they are.
Greg Christian: You're
Brooke Harmer: Have you seen that in this process? Like have you seen less food waste,
Greg Christian: totally
Brooke Harmer: more overall consumption, like more kids eating more food as you've made the
Greg Christian: Yeah. One interesting You're totally right.
Greg Christian: First of all,
Brooke Harmer: transition.
Greg Christian: you're totally right. And to me, like it's obvious and not rocket science, but so many people as soon as you head into this processed chip snack cookie thing with natural flavors, then the kids, they want those natural flavors that aren't really, you know, I think they're tickling the back of their brain, literally. And so, yeah, we're we have a project now. It's in It's in a town called It's It's New Berlin. This tiny town outside of Springfield, Illinois. And they measure plate waste every day on a scale. No, they're not. I don't know if they're measuring on a scale yet, but they're watching waste. Half the kids bring their lunch. 400 kidsish. Half the kids get the school lunch. And just this year, they're in their they're in their fourth semester with us ending. The fourth semester is just ending. In the fourth semester, there is more plate waste from kids lunches at home than school lunches.
Brooke Harmer: That's so
Greg Christian: I mean,
Brooke Harmer: cool.
Greg Christian: come on. I mean, right right there. And these are not fancy chefs. These are like in this kitchen. It's all women and they're and and and none of them worked in restaurants and they're doing the best they can and the food is really simple. You know, chili burgers, homemade pizza, homebaked blueberry muffins, you know, French toast casserole, all understandable stuff. But yeah, I think that I think that superintendent I know schools have a lot to do. You know, I can't even imagine like being a teacher or running a school or being on a board of a school, but I think it's the school's job to help the parents caretakers make sure that when a kid leaves 8th grade, their pallet craves nutrient-dense food. And and and and we could say what people say to that, Brooke, is like that's the parents job. and and and like when I was a kid, you know, 65 years ago, that was totally my mom's job.
Greg Christian: She stay at home, six kids. Her job was to she didn't talk like me, but was to build pallets in our mouth, six little mouths, so we craved fresh, nutritious food. And she did it. And now parents are, you know, working two job, you know, whatever they're doing. Like they're ba, everybody's busy. So they need a little help and and I don't want to get in the way of any mama bear out there. So if mama bear says, "No, no, that's my job." then it's your job and and and and forget about school food. But some parents and moms and dads and caretakers would say, "We'd love a little help in having our kid in building a pallet in our kids' mouth so they crave nutrient-dense food." I mean, just think about you and your family. I don't know you that well, but let's say you have a family and you go to visit other people's houses and you're not a big, you know, Oreo cookie person. So, let's pretend you don't have any Oreo cookies at home.
Greg Christian: And then you go and your beautiful kids like they're running around with Oreo cookies at your sister's house and you're just like, "What?" Like, and you you know, you figure it out, right? But families even have a hard time or friend groups have a hard time walking related to we hope our kids crave nutrient-dense food, you know, by the time I leave our house. people. And anyway, that's one of our goals is to help the one people that want to help to get these kids because they crave it. They're born craving it. And yeah, there's some preferences and some people don't like fish and there's allergies, peanuts. We all know about all you know that. So, all that aside, I think like schools now own bullying. 30 years ago or 50 years ago when I was a kid or longer if I was being bullied like the the school called the parents and said, "Please have Tommy stop picking on Timmy." And now the schools totally own it. The parents don't even have to help.
Greg Christian: They can, but the schools own it. There's no bullying. And I think that's coming that's that's has to come to schools. I I might be wrong, but I think in 30 years superintendent will own building pallets in kids' mouths, helping the parents build pallets in kids' mouths. The hardest part about all this, Brooke, is that food is very emotional and people and people get they get nutty. Oh, if I want my kid to have Oreos, give them or and it's just like, okay, this is a tough, you know, how do you do that?
Brooke Harmer: Well, I like I really like what you said and I was thinking about it. I feel like schools are already doing that. I feel like schools are already building the pallet. It's just not the pallet that we want. And that's where you come in, right? is we we we shift the narrative a little bit and say, "Hey, schools have such an influence on our kids whether we want them to or not." Right? Couple years ago, my husband and I decided we were going to homeschool because for whatever,
Greg Christian: Yeah.
Brooke Harmer: you know, I'm not going to get into the politics, but we just preferred to homeschool. And then it actually came time to homeschool. And between both of us working, I'm self-employed, I run my own six-f figureure business, my husband's in the army. between both of us working and then me also having three kids under the age of four at home, I was tapped out. I was like, even if I wanted to,
Greg Christian: Yeah.
Brooke Harmer: I couldn't homeschool. Like, I don't have the capacity to do that and still work and still provide and still take care of the other kids and da da da da. So, I was like, well, I guess my son's going to public school. And so when I sent him to public school for about a week, I had this really really hard time not feeling guilty about like all the things that were going to come with that that I was giving up control for, right? I couldn't control what he was going to eat at at school.
Brooke Harmer: I couldn't control what he was going to hear, what he was going to be taught, all those things. And so I was like,
Greg Christian: Yeah.
Brooke Harmer: okay, well, I just have to trust that I'm going to do my best at home and that's the best that I can do. And so like this idea that our kids are having their pallets built by school is totally accurate. Like they are being influenced so much by the things that are happening at school. And if we can bring in companies like yours to say, hey, what if there was a better way? It's not that like we're screwing up the kids necessarily or that you guys are bad people. It's hey, there's a better way and let me show you how to do the better way without making it cost more money or require more people or whatever. And I think that is such an empowering message for moms. So my next question to you, the million-dollar question is, how in the world do we get you and your people in our schools so that we can see that kind of change in our public
Greg Christian: Yeah. Well, I just started a nonforprofit and I'm looking for funding for that because once that's
Brooke Harmer: schools?
Greg Christian: funded, we're going to give it away to public institutions. We have spent the last couple of years building a complete online course for so schools can almost do this themselves. Um and so you know we have a website and people can email us and if they have the right now I need to we need to get paid to come you know but we've like I said our Illinois based have worked all over the country. We want to build models for people. So, you know, the sustainablefoodinstitute.org is uh it's being revamped right now. It'll be more perfect in two weeks. Um way more perfect than it is now. And and yeah, and and we and and and we like to start with an assessment, Brooke. It's just like think about when you go to not you, but people that you know that go to the doctor. The doctor often starts with blood work and they just want to know like what's under the hood.
Greg Christian: Then they talk to you too, right? And they and they and they sit with you, right? And then and so we do that kind of assessment. It's like we look under the hood, we come, we talk, we look around, we talk to kids, we talk to administration, we talk to the board, we talk to whoever wants to talk to us, the custodians. the custodians, they will tell you how much food waste is going on in your kid's school and like don't talk to them about it because you're going to be like it's it's gross. So that's you know it starts with assessment. It starts with reaching out to us and um
Brooke Harmer: So, is this something that like we need to talk to our local and state legislators about and kind of go that way
Greg Christian: yeah.
Brooke Harmer: or is this more like you just got to know someone on the school board and get them in touch with you and cross their fingers that they like have a heart that's open to it. like how do we actually go about connecting you to our
Greg Christian: Yeah. The board is is most of our work has come from the board.
Brooke Harmer: schools?
Greg Christian: Most of our work has come from a board member that really cares or you know the what I call the vegan moms which aren't necessarily vegan moms but the moms there's moms out there in general that are like enough is enough. we can't keep serving this food to all the kids including my kid. That's where most of the work, you know, has come. And and the hard part is that the that some people that run the cafeterias, there's a lot of rules, right? There's uh USDA rules and union rules and this and that. And I'm a big believer in like unlimited unlimited creativity even in all that. So we have literally unlimited creativity with all those boundaries and rules and cost constraints and we've kind of mastered it, right? But the people that run the kitchens, they don't have this. They what they have is they're probably really good at running the school kitchen or the 10 school kitchens or the hundred school kitchens they're in charge of.
Greg Christian: And so this kind of talk with them can be really hard. But how bad do you want
Brooke Harmer: Well, lucky for you, you're talking to the right group of moms.
Greg Christian: it?
Brooke Harmer: That's basically my audience. We are those crunchy moms that are like, "You know what? We can do better and we we have the desire to speak up." So, mamas, if you're listening and you want to change the way your child is fed at school, I know it feels like it's a big fish we're trying to catch here, but if you can just talk to some of the other moms that you know that you know have kids that go to the school, if you know someone in PTA or on the school board or whatever, um like I know someone in the front office at my son's school really well. She knows me by name. um I must be really annoying because she like remembers me more than other moms. I don't know. But um all it takes is like having a conversation and really like having that desire to speak up and make a difference.
Brooke Harmer: And now because you're listening to this episode, you know where to point them so that they can be connected with these resources. I can only imagine like how much this would change just my son's school alone. like he comes home with these. It's not even a Pop-Tart. It's not an uncrustable. I don't know what it is. It's some gluten sugar concoction in a bag. I think they call it French toast. I don't even know. It's something. And if he is like really really good in preschool, they will give that to him as like a special treat. And he'll come home. He's like, "Mommy, look. I was so good today. I got a special treat." And I just have to bite my tongue and be like, "Yes, yes. Let's celebrate. let's have your special treat and just, you know, roll with it. So, I'm not trying to like shame him or anything, but like I remember growing up and I hated peaches because the only peaches that I was ever served were the peaches that came in those little plastic cups where they were slimy and dowsed in corn syrup and just like the texture and everything.
Brooke Harmer: I was like, "This is disgusting. I hate peaches." And then I moved away from home. I was 18, 19, 20. I went to the grocery store and I was like,
Greg Christian: Yeah.
Brooke Harmer: "That's what a peach looks like?" Like I literally I was 18 years old shopping at the grocery store with my own money and I saw a peach just like out in the little boxes and I was like, I don't even know how to cut that. But I'm going to learn how to cut a peach and I'm going to see if I like it. And turns out I really like peaches. I just needed to eat them the way that they were meant to be eaten. So, moms, if you're listening, I really hope you check out more of Greg's nonprofit and his resources and talk to some of your mom friends and see if you guys can introduce his nonprofit and his organization to your school and let's start making a difference. Like, uh, I'm so passionate about this. I love this, Greg.
Brooke Harmer: Thank you so much.
Greg Christian: Brooke, you're very very lovely. You ask all the right questions and you're it's nice to be with an authentic mom who like cares about not just your own three kids, but like all the kids. There's power in that. There's there's power in that. It's hard to make stuff happen if it's just your three kids, even though that's a powerful family unit and I support that. But if we can expand and the moms can expand like all the kids, then that is a force that cannot be messed with. I assert
Brooke Harmer: Thank you for your kind words. I I Yeah, I I have a podcast because I talk too much. Um but I also get to meet cool people like you where now we're like I'm sure there's a lot of moms listening that have been wanting something to change and they just didn't know how. And so now we have the how. So remind us one more time. I'll put it in the show notes, but just remind us one more time where we can find your nonprofit, where we can connect with you if we're interested in introducing you to our
Greg Christian: Yeah, I think the best place is the sustainablefoodinstitute.org.
Brooke Harmer: schools.
Greg Christian: Um the the the the prev that's the best way. just go there and and there's a way to email us and I'm easy to reach and jump on calls and and coach people. Like some people need a little coaching and like how to talk to the board or how to talk to the superintendent or how to get over the speed bump of the food service director has no interest in changing the way they do things.
Brooke Harmer: Okay, awesome. We'll put all of your information in the show notes. Before we close, we have one more question for you. It's a question I ask all my guests. Doesn't have to be related to our conversation, but we would love to know, what is a non-negotiable to you to living a well-nourished life?
Greg Christian: There's so many, but one is uh local food. We, me and my partner Marne, eat local food all year. Um, and so we're eating local produce all year and really and grains and committed to that. I don't eat meat, she does. So local meat. The other part, one additional thing is like we know most of the farmers and have been to their farms. So really this connection to mother if you will and then eating that and and then anytime we have people over serving that to people and not making it a high mass and even talking about the farms that the food came from unless somebody but we know we're like spreading this food and energy to the people we love the most.
Brooke Harmer: beautiful. I love that answer. Thank you so much for your time today, Greg. It was a pleasure to meet you.
Greg Christian: Nice to meet you. Thank
Brooke Harmer: All right, mamas.
Greg Christian: you.
Brooke Harmer: We will see you in the next episode. Okay, Greg, I am so fired up.
Greg Christian: You're lovely.
Brooke Harmer: I am like legit so excited about what you're doing.
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