search by region
Pacific-West West Central Mid-West South-East North-East
  • Region
Pacific-West West Central Mid-West South-East North-East
  • Location
  • to search by radius, close this filter and enter a zip code in the search box above
  • Category
  • Type
  • Compensation
Sarah Weiner
Director
Seedling Projects
August 07, 2012

Working on projects that require funding from outside sources can be daunting. It takes the right kind  of personality and drive to cope with the possibility that an event could come together as quickly as it could fall apart. Sarah has had the passion to put the work in when she didn't know if it would pay off. And the Good Food Awards (which, by the way, is coincidentally similar to our own company name - we only wish we could take credit for some of its awesomeness) is an event that really pays it forward for small food producers everywhere.

NOTE: those of you who love a good competition will be pleased to learn that entries for this year's Good Food Awards just opened. What are you waiting for?

When did you know that you wanted to work in food?

It was an internship my sophomore year in college that set me on the path. Said internship was at a corporate real estate assessment firm in Boston. I took a term off to avoid the sub-zero temperatures of New Hampshire, and chose the internship based on the comprehensive criteria that a) it was located where my boyfriend lived and b) it paid.  I was miserable pretty much every single moment, and realized that I could never choose a career based on that fact that it paid well. I had to do something I loved.

My college entrance essay was about creme brulee, my mother swears I was the easiest baby because she could give me a snack and I'd go anywhere without a peep, and I spent high school nights baking cakes rather than going to parties. When I graduated from college ten years ago, there weren't so many options in the food world. It was chef or food writer. I worked on the line in restaurants during the summers, but realized  having peers that were (lovable) misfits and generally abusing some sort of substance (ever read Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential? Pretty much my experience.) weren't right long term for me. And I wasn't sold on writing either, so I just put myself wherever someone was doing something I thought was fascinating and tried my best to be useful to them. Alice Waters and Odessa Piper were early role models, and then I learned about Slow Food.

The key moment was when Chelsea Green Publishing sent a copy of the compilation of essays from their quarterly newsletter to my mother to review (she is the editor of a paper in St. Louis), and I read the whole thing and it just clicked. You could save the world AND eat well, hand in hand, and I wanted to be a part of that.

How did you get your current good food job?

Well, I created the company so they had to hire me. Actually Seedling Projects was the brilliant idea of Dominic Phillips, the co-founder and busiest man I have ever met. He was the event producer hired to make Slow Food Nation run well, and the 85,000-person, hundreds-of-events-in-four-days, catalyst of a gathering was transformational for many, many people. He decided after that he wanted to do more in the sustainable food movement, and in addition to running a full-scale event production and marketing company and opening a sustainable wine bar (123 Bolinas), he convinced me that Seedling Projects was what we needed to do and made it possible with a no-interest, no-terms loan. He is the unsung hero of everything we do, and his event production company, DPEM Marketing, kicks into gear every time we are in production mode for a big event and it's too big a job for our (very) small team of one (me) + amazing, talented interns.

How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?

I have worked in 'good food' ever since graduating from college. My first step was to take my economics degree and go to culinary school in Italy. It was in a castle in Le Marche region, a town called Jesi, and partly run by Slow Food. It was a totally amazing experience, but also frustrating at times in that it was the first class of the school and run in an Italian fashion (which is to say, not totally organized). There were four students - an Estonian ex-model, two Japanese chefs (much more experienced than me), and myself.  Amongst us we did not have one common language, and we didn't have a translator most of the time! So I would end up translating for my Estonian friend, and one of the Japanese chefs for the other, and there I learned to stick up for myself and give constructive feedback. I also learned that no matter how amazingly delicious something is - and we were cooking incredible food every day - it doesn't taste good if there isn't warmth and good feelings around the table. The role of community in food was made very clear.

Next, I worked for Slow Food at their international office - I learned the true meaning of hospitality and la dolce vita. And the joy of working hard when your colleagues are friends, and your work brings joy to so may people. In Alice Waters' office I learned the importance of taking care of your friends and extended community, which she does like no one else, and that beauty and art can be so much more persuasive than words. Also, many of the organizational systems I still use today I learned form Alice and her more senior assistant, Sylvan Brackett, who had an incredible capacity to stay calm in every circumstance and be kind to everyone. From excel spreadsheets to creating clear travel itineraries to the importance of details in everything you do.

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?

The work of the Good Food movement is several years ahead of the funding available, so I am pretty much constantly in the position of asking for favors and in-kind support, and making plans without really knowing how things will be funded or if we will have to rethink the whole project to a different form based on the resources we can scrounge up. Though I am continually reminded of the generosity of the food community, and that everyone is in it with a sense of solidarity and shared purpose. The first year planning the Good Food Awards, two of my old Slow Food Nation colleagues - who had both become very busy food business consultants - were offended that I didn't ask them to volunteer to help!

One time that I vividly remember, when I almost called it quits, came while working on Slow Food Nation. I was the only employee for a while - it took about three years when all was said and done, from the moment Alice proposed it to the Board of Slow Food USA to when it really happened. I remember that day so clearly: the board said "We love the idea, now raise $50,000 in the next few months to prove it is feasible." Alice found some great support from leaders like Fedele Bauccio of Bon Appetit Management Company (the first person to sign on), but we were falling short and the philanthropist who I had the most hopes would help us kept canceling our meeting. I was still working as Alice's assistant. This guy lived in Sausalito, about an hour from Berkeley, and finally I told him I was coming down to his restaurant and drove out there in a borrowed car, worried I'd get lost, and wondering how I was going to do this and if it was even worth the trouble.  I told myself this was the last thing I would try, and if it didn't work I was out of ideas and we'd have no choice but to give up on Slow Food Nation. I arrived at the restaurant, sat down with him, and described the vision. He said, "And who is going to do this, you?" and looked at me sort of like the whole idea of this 25-year-old taking on this huge project was a joke. But he gave us $15,000 that day, and told his chef to take care of me, which the chef seemed to think meant make everything on the menu for me, and I left full of crab louie salad, ceviche, fish tacos, perfectly fried calamari? I was the happiest girl in the world.

I believe that the funding sources will catch up with the food movement. Ten years ago there were no foundations funding 'edible education', and now there are entire foundations dedicated to funding just that. I believe support for the other part of the Good Food movement will develop - safeguarding biodiversity as part of culture, economic job stimulation through projects like the Good Food Awards and new Good Food Merchants Guild, supporting the environment by supporting food businesses that are true stewards of the land.

What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?

Everything is possible. The mainstream is becoming more and more aware of sustainable food, and it is only going to grow - there are no other long-term options. So everything from starting food businesses to creating services tailored to Good Food producers (affordable PR for small businesses, transparent distribution systems, etc) is possible. The way the world is moving, we will need to create all kinds of new systems that work with a more local, regional world where petro-chemicals (the key ingredients in transportation i.e. oil!, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides) cost more and more. Anything that helps us transition from there is going to grow.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

When I was an intern at Slow Food in Italy, I used to muse that if I WAS getting paid an investment banker's salary, I would turn around and spend all that money on incredible food experience in Italy, and still not have the chance to celebrate the festival of the fat ox together with Carlo Gaia, eat a Michelin-star meal at La Madonina Pescatore with the chef hanging out afterwards to  have an digestif with us, or hunt for wild asparagus with the chef of one of the most beloved osteria in a random small town near Naples. Even though I wasn't drawing what you would call a 'salary,' I was having these priceless experiences. The chance to get to know and work with people who I respect so greatly is a very powerful motivator.

With the work of Seedling Projects, I have the chance to taste the food and drink that the most talented producers in the country feel is their most special; it is priceless. Also the opportunity to get to work with and know I am furthering the vision of people whose own lives have inspired everything I do, like Alice Waters and Patrick Holden, is deeply rewarding.

When something like the Good Food Awards comes together and there's a big gala reception with hundreds of people, and a winner will introduce themselves and say how much it means to be recognized, with tears in their eyes, seeing that all the work we put in to make the Good Food Awards mean something and make the evening magical for these exceptional food crafters is priceless.

More stories in business, media, other, production
Related Jobs