Chef/Educator Joan GallagherChef Joan began her career with the USDA, working as a nutritionist at the Human Nutritional Research Center. She attended California Culinary Academy and did an internship in Alsace, France. Returning to her roots in the Bay Area, she worked in restaurants, hotels, Microsoft's corporate cafeteria, and was the catering director for NASA.
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When an opportunity became available in the Berkeley Unified School District & Edible Schoolyard, she jumped at the chance. For five years, Joan ran the production kitchen for Berkeley Unified, producing 3,000 meals every day. She gave "What's on Your Plate" presentations for the Edible Schoolyard, where she was able to share her passion for preparing and savoring food with kids, and linking it to culture and curriculum. Nothing thrills her more than seeing a child's culinary world expand. |
Chef Joan Gallagher and her small team have the capacity to produce 1000 meals daily at ~$2/meal. Our communications person (Evan Specter) and our grant writer are volunteers.
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In 2011, Joan realized the time was right to take what she'd learned at Berkeley Unified and launch a lunch program for schools. The program grew over time to include The Berkeley School, Black Pine Circle School and East Bay School for Boys. Each school day, 400+ students, teachers and staff shared a communal meal. Administrators tell us that their school cultures are stronger for it.
When Shelter-in-place began, Chef Joan took all her remaining ingredients and began producing meals to distribute at ECAP (Emeryville Citizens Assistance Program, a longtime volunteer-run food bank in Emeryville). With her staff (and college students on break over the summer), she scaled up to producing 800-1000/meals each day. |
