by Santosh Mathew
Earth week and Earth Day are always interesting challenges. While most people say they want to help save the environment, many find that making the necessary changes is hard. So how do you take advantage of the attention around Earth Day? What will draw another person into the path of sustainability? Passion. Passion is simply the word that describes one’s bubbling up enough desire to act.
Expressing a passion for sustainability – through food
Two young men in Tampa Bay are showing their passion around sustainability by creating awareness through food. These two friends have nearly 20 years combined experience in professional kitchens. Their business, “First We Eat,” is an “emulsification” of love of food, friends, and farm-to-table concepts. They really walk the walk, or on some days, drive their Food Truck. By providing a “farm-to-table” sustainable offering in a nice mobile package, First We Eat strives to break down barriers and make more people aware of the sustainability impacts of food.
Bryan Gallagher began in Tampa as the Sous Chef for Eddie DeBartolo’s restaurant, Tomatina. He then became Sous Chef for Grille One Sixteen, developing their menu and opening their original store. After more time as the Executive Sous Chef at Jackson’s Bistro, he ultimately returned to Grille One Sixteen as the Executive Chef.
Nick Papalos has been in the culinary industry for several years after making the decision to leave his financial advisory position. Like many of us, he found something missing from his desk job and took a leap of faith. He instantly fell in love with the fast-paced, team-oriented creativity that oozed from every inch of the kitchen!
Together, Nick and Bryan’s culinary backgrounds span Japanese, Spanish, Classic Italian, French, and Contemporary American cuisines. But it is their choices in sourcing and business relationships that make them really stand out. “We strongly believe that good food begins at home from the ground up. We support and encourage local, humane, and natural treatments of all food. We also believe in having personal relationships with everyone we do business with. It is more than the food and more than the living we make. It is the very life we live,” says Bryan.
Nick and Bryan have also been involved as volunteers with the Sustany® Foundation. They were featured Chef’s in the VIP section of Sustany®’s annual Tampa Bay sustainable awareness event, “The Buzz” and are constantly looking to promote sustainability in the Tampa Bay area.
Partake at First We Eat Food Truck tomorrow!
First We Eat can be seen at many of your local Tampa Bay area food truck rallies. Most notably, they will be in Oldsmar on April 23, 2015 at the Nielsen Global Technology and Innovation Center. They are partnering with the campus Green Team to be part of their Earth Week campaign. They will be serving sustainable foods and farm-to-table ingredients from local farms from their Food Truck. For more information about First We Eat, please visit their website.