Our campus partners at Boston University recently hosted the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative (the MCURC) at the beginning of October. The Collaborative is an extension of Menus of Change®: The Business of Healthy, Sustainable, Delicious Food Choices, an initiative from The Culinary Institute of America and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Aramark has a long history with The Culinary Institute of America, in addition to its close work with the MCURC.
Access the episode transcript here.
Lexie Raczka
Sustainability Director, Boston University Dining Services and Northeast Region Sustainability Champion for Aramark Collegiate Hospitality
Lexie Raczka is the Sustainability Director for Boston University Dining Services and the Northeast Region Sustainability Champion for Aramark Collegiate Hospitality. She leads BU Dining’s sustainability initiatives, including local, sustainable, and diverse sourcing; waste reduction and diversion; low impact menu programming, and more across residential dining halls, retail locations, and campus catering. Lexie designed BU’s Choose to Reuse reusable to-go container program, which has inspired similar programs at other colleges and universities across the United States, and beyond. She is involved in the development and adherence of Boston University’s Zero Waste Plan and leads MCURC participation on campus
Lexie has an M.A. in Agriculture, Food, and Environment and an M.S. in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, both from Tufts University, and a bachelor’s degree in from Dickinson College
Andrea Catania (she/her) Sustainability Intern & MCURC Fellows Co-Manager
Andrea is a graduate student in the Gastronomy program concentrating in Food Policy at Boston University. She originally hails from the Syracuse area and is a proud, 1st-generation graduate of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Since then, she has spent her career working across several roles of food and beverage operations in the Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Denver areas. She currently works as a Graduate Assistant for the Gastronomy program and as a Sustainability Intern for BU Dining Services.
In the fall of 2022, she was selected as a Student Fellow with MCURC and has served as the Fellows Co-Manager since July 2023. Her areas of interest are food systems reform, food justice, and environmental sustainability. Andrea is currently working on projects related to public kitchens as societal infrastructure, the impacts of technology on the student dining experience, and streamlining urban street cart vending.
Chef Marion Gibson
Director of Culinary Development, Aramark World Headquarters Innovation Kitchen
Chef Marion is Director of Culinary Development with the Aramark World headquarters Innovation Kitchen. Before joining Aramark, Marion was at the helm of several fine dining restaurants around the country, including Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
Chef Marion is an avid reader and researcher of food and culture. She loves learning how food knits us all together. Marion spends her free time volunteering in underserved communities teaching families how to stretch their food dollars on nutritious meals while learning more about cultures and cuisines. While at work she parlays that passion for people into the Aramark Culinary Leadership Council and The Chef Spotlight Series focusing on our Chefs, their passions, and overwhelming talents.
Marion was raised in northeast Texas farm-country which gave her strong ties and interest in sustainable crops and farming practices. Her years in California afforded her a unique opportunity to meet and know organic farmers and artisan producers. This shines in her passion for finding pathways to more sustainable, healthier, and less wasteful menus. She dedicates time and effort in our valued partnership with Menus of Change as a member of the Business Leadership Council, co-leading working groups with the Healthy Menus R&D Collaborative and as the Aramark liaison with the CIA.
Her personal philosophy is to serve seasonal foods using local products as simply as possible. If she had a motto, it would be “Delicious food...that’s what love looks like!”
Additional Resources :
Menus of Change®: The Business of Healthy, Sustainable, Delicious Food Choices
The Culinary Institute of America | The World's Premier Culinary College (ciachef.edu)
Newsroom Feature: Students at Boston University Choose to Reuse
Related Podcast Content:
Mark This! Episode 4: Responsible Sourcing: Diverse Suppliers - Aramark
Mark This! Episode 23: Sustainability Myths - Aramark
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