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| Focus on Food at The Good Festival |
Fortune smiled on me when I wrangled an invitation to the third Good Festival, at the Olympic Museum, on the shore of Lac Leman. I applied and received a call from Rajiv Srivastava, one of the founders. I explained my interest in culinary history, and in particular the reception of immigrant cuisines and immigrants. He assured me there was a great interest in food issues among participants, and indeed there is, as you can see from the flip-chart notes above.
A hazy autumnal morning on Lac Leman, viewed from the Olympic Museum, goes well with an espresso. I drank both in and listened to English, French, German spoken all around me. I overheard snippets of conversation about projects from Africa to Nepal.
Then Rajiv laid out the plan for the day and days ahead. The Festival operates as a fast vehicle to #GetGoodDone. Coaches and participants describe and practice the elements that make for sustainable innovation that is a force for good. We quickly put the first steps to building diverse teams into action, clustering at points of interest like Food, Education, Arts and Culture, Environment etc. We shared our concerns and projects.
In my three months here, I've read and seen much interest in food purity and security. "Bio" is a watchword in both major supermarket chains, Co-Op and Migros, as well as at the Wednesday and Saturday Markets. These were part of the issues raised by Anna DeCosterd of mysweetmoette, whose goal is to connect city dwellers with local food producers. Jason Papadopoulous has a vision for building the ability to grow food and medicine from food wastes through urban, indoor farming. Flavia and Vlad have created Foodcrafters to showcase producers who adhere to integrity in their products and business practices.
We broke off our ice-breaking conversations for rapid-fire presentations on the fundamentals of a sustainable business doing good, from people who have done so, or coached others to do so. Professors from EPFL's business school, PriceWaterhouseCooper accountants, founders; each offered nuggets of wisdom. If I had to choose the one that resonated, it would be Don Difang's Domeafavorbuddy. This is an app that enables people to "pay it forward" in real life.
Back to food. Anna, Jason, Flavia, Vlad and I and Flavia Spasiano, one of the coaches, coached each other, offering our thoughts on their projects. We could see the value of looking from diverse perspectives. The next step for them will be composing a short video, what I've come to call an elevator pitch, for their projects. I'm glad to help, and hope there will be some time for them to comment on my questions about immigrants and immigrant cuisines.
And on to dinner, at the Jeunehotel. Over veal and rosti, and joined by my significant other, I spoke with a Vietnamese MBA student from Zurich. Gourmet Magazine introduced me to Tao Kim Hai, the first Vietnamese writer for Gourmet as well as the New Yorker; a perspective on France and Vietnam from 75 years ago. She is writing her dissertation on creating a clean food supply chain for the vegetables used in Vietnamese cooking. The Swiss government has found excessive pesticides in those imported from Southeast Asia. I am excited to speak further with her; the Invited Cuisine of Honor at the Dijon Gastronomic Fair is Vietnam.
And now I'm off to the Wednesday market and the back to the GoodFestival. Stay tuned for more!
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