Sustainability in Every Bite: Educating the Next Wave of JWU Culinary Innovators

In this editorial, JWU Charlotte Senior Instructor Harry Peemoeller, a certified master bread baker with more than 40 years of artisan bread experience, explores the intersection of sustainability and polycrop usage in the North Carolina region.

Blending Tradition with Innovation

The baking and pastry industry has long been recognized as a craft rooted in skill and the thoughtful selection of quality ingredients. The emphasis on using the finest ingredients, coupled with environmental awareness and social responsibility, is not a recently developed concept. However, this focus shifted during a period of prioritizing high-yielding crops dependent on fertilizers and pesticides, which raised concerns about environmental degradation and soil health.

In recent years, growing consumer awareness, the influence of social media, and increased appeal for sustainable practices have driven a renewed commitment to these foundational principles, signaling a return to the industry’s traditional values.

These values remain central to Johnson & Wales University’s (JWU) mission in their College of Food Innovation and Technology (CFIT), as they prioritize sourcing many of their grains used in their baking and pastry classes from certified organic local farmers and partner with nearby mills to process them. JWU exemplifies sustainability by using biodegradable packaging, composting, and repurposing aged bread into milled ingredients for whole-grain doughs.

Additionally, JWU actively supports the community through student-led fundraising initiatives, including events like the Asheville Bread Festival, which benefit local farmers and millers. JWU culinary students actively participate in the annual New York Produce Show, where they showcase their skills in live competitions featuring ingredients highlighted at the event and collaborate with chefs during culinary demonstrations, further emphasizing JWU's commitment to innovation, community engagement, and sustainability in the culinary arts.

“Our curriculum naturally reflects the industry’s shift toward sustainability. Instructors, all of whom worked in the industry prior to joining our faculty, now weave sustainability into daily discussions about food sourcing and waste—topics that were rarely addressed in the past. This evolution has made sustainability a mainstream, integral part of our teaching, even without being a formal course objective. Looking ahead, we anticipate these conversations will expand to include regenerative practices,” shares Professor Amy Felder, JWU Charlotte baking and pastry department chair.

Cross-Crop Farming: A Sustainable Path to Flavor and Biodiversity

Cross-crop farming, also known as polyculture or inter-cropping, is an ancient agricultural practice that involves cultivating multiple mutually beneficial crops and grains in the same field simultaneously. Examples include green emmer, African red sorghum, petite rouge rice peas, Sea Island guinea flint corn, among others. This approach draws inspiration from the Native American “Three Sisters” planting method, which strategically grows corn, squash, and legumes together to optimize nutrient, moisture, and sunlight utilization.

The complementary growth patterns and diverse crop selection inherent in polyculture help mitigate the adverse effects of climate stress on agricultural productivity. For instance, legumes act as natural nitrogen fixers, while other crops contribute to pest control through ecological balance. Some poly-crop varieties, classified as “short-season poly-crops,” can even produce two to three harvests per year from the same field, further enhancing their agricultural efficiency.

At JWU Charlotte, students enrolled in Bread and Viennoiserie courses have the unique opportunity to incorporate poly-crop products, utilizing them either as whole grains in porridge or milling them into specialty flours for use in multigrain breads and pastries. These products emphasize health benefits while delivering robust, complex flavors.

Chef instructors teach students to incorporate poly-crop products either as whole grains for porridge or milled into specialty flours used in multigrain breads and pastries. These products emphasize health benefits while delivering robust, complex flavors. 

Grains, oilseeds, and legumes are rich sources of antioxidants, a vital class of nutrients that protect the body by neutralizing harmful substances that damage healthy cells. Additionally, the practice of mutual supplementation—combining two protein-rich foods to provide all essential amino acids—makes the pairing of legumes and grains particularly valuable for a balanced and nutrient-dense diet.

Regenerative Farming: Building Resilience Through Local Sourcing

Regenerative farming is a holistic approach aimed at delivering environmental benefits on par with sustainability efforts while surpassing it by actively improving critical areas such as waste management, energy efficiency, and agricultural farming practices like crop diversification. This approach not only mitigates the adverse effects of climate stress on agricultural output but also delivers substantial environmental benefits. Heirloom and landrace crop varieties are particularly well-suited to regenerative farming due to their exceptional flavor profiles and innate adaptability to local soils, microclimates, and sudden environmental changes.

Additionally, locally grown products from regenerative farming support regional economies and communities while significantly reducing the carbon footprint. By minimizing transportation, fuel usage, waste, and packaging, these practices contribute to a more sustainable and resilient food system. 

Building close partnerships with local millers and farmers, such as Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills and Jennifer Lapidus of Carolina Ground, is essential for gaining insights into the ancient sun cycle perennial poly-crop fields at Longleaf Seedhouse in Orangeburg, SC and participating in USDA wheat variety bake tests and evaluations at La Farm Bakery in Cary, NC.

Inspiring Change: Leading with Creativity and Sustainability

The essence of creativity and artistry is deeply ingrained in the DNA of a chef and our JWU chef instructors. Embracing eco-friendly, seasonal, and renewable ingredients may initially seem challenging, but it presents a unique opportunity for innovation and inspiration. Collaboration and effective communication with growers are critical for understanding what can be cultivated, where, when, and how. This extends to exploring ways to minimize or eliminate packaging, cultivating ingredients in personal gardens, and reconsidering processes like refining flour. For example, retaining some bran and germ in flour not only reduces waste but also enhances flavor and nutritional value. 

In select courses, JWU students are employing tabletop grain mills to process locally sourced grains to precise levels of coarseness. This practice of 'just-in-time milling' ensures the freshness and nutritional benefits of whole grain flour, preserves its nuanced flavors, and minimizes the need for additional packaging."

Ancient crop varieties such as einkorn, amaranth, and quinoa, once staples for their exceptional nutritional benefits and cultural significance, offer chefs a chance to reconnect with history and tell compelling culinary stories. Emerging chefs are shedding the “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” mindset and embracing a forward-thinking approach, seeing challenges as opportunities for innovation and growth. 

In collaboration with Associate Professor Daina Soto, we engaged our CFIT students in developing and presenting a bilingual workshop at the Asheville Bread Festival. The class highlighted the nutritional benefits and flavor advantages of incorporating whole grains into traditional Hispanic bread and pastry recipes. This hands-on session emphasized sustainable food systems and the importance of preserving diverse cultural food traditions. The students showcased their experience at the JWU Charlotte Student Research, Design and Innovation Symposium.

The adage “food is medicine” rings true more than ever. The next generation of chefs has the potential to lead a shift toward environmentally conscious cooking, integrating sustainable ingredients to benefit both health and the planet. By doing so, they can move consumers away from dependency on artificial solutions and toward a lifestyle centered on holistic, sustainable nourishment.

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