91²Ö¿â

Q&A with Steven Walk, WCMC, CEC, CCA, FMP Campus Executive Chef, 91²Ö¿â Culinary Services

• What sparked your interest in Culinary Services?
  I have been in the food industry for about 40 years now.  It is always been something I have loved.  I grew up in this area, Graduated from West Branch High School and Mahoning Country Vocational School for Culinary Arts/ Restaurant Management.  I left the area, ended up out in Washington and Idaho.  As my parents are getting older and my kids are having kids it was time to come home.  I have been in and out of College food service and I love the environment so I applied and here I am.
   
• What sparked your interest in sustainability in both your professional and/or personal life?
  For the last 15 or so years I have had a small ranch.  I raised beef, pigs and layer chickens.  I also had a large garden.  I have been around farming and ranching most of my life.  Nothing is better then fresh produce from the garden at peak ripeness.  I call this the circle of life.  We produce waste, treat that correctly, turn that into compost, the compost gets laid in the garden and naturally fertilizes the land, that grows new crops.
   
• What is your favorite part of your position?
  As culinary services we get to do a little bit of everything from basic burgers and chicken strips all the way to a high end plated dinner for presidential or donor events, and everything in between.  We attempt to introduce our student population with new and interesting flavors and foods.
   
• What are your favorite accomplishments or projects you have worked on?
  I think my biggest accomplishment is obtaining my World Certified Master Chef designation.
   
• What do you want people to know about Culinary Services?
  Our focus is to provide a variety of great foods, home made instead of right out of the box.  We try to accommodate a variety of different diets and make sure our students can eat a well balanced diet of healthy foods.
   
• What sustainability initiatives is Culinary Services working on this year?
  This year the big thing we are starting is composting at the Crawford Center of Businees.  We also implemented a food waste program to help track our food waste to see what we can reduce.  One of our largest food waste categories is food coming back off of plates.  In the dining centers there is a TV that shows the waste the comes back to the dishroom.  That will calculate into how many people that waste could of served.  Yes our dining centers are all you care to eat, but please lets take only what you can eat.
   
• Can you tell us more about how you and/or Culinary Services is advancing sustainability?
  We are partnering with companies that support local farmers and products as available in order to reduce carbon foot print.  Our chicken thigh meat comes from Gerber Amish farm only a half hour away.  Brodan Dairy is an Ohio based company that 95% of their milk comes from Ohio farms. Sanson Produce when in season works with local produce farmers to supply us our fruits and vegetables.  Each fall we do a farm to fork event that features local products.  Look for that coming on Sept 11.  We are piloting a composting program at Crawford hall, we will evaluate that and possibly expand into more Culinary Operations, and our food waste monitoring program to reduce our waste.  Last year KSU finished 1st in the nation in food organics landfill diversions.
   
• Where is one of your favorite spots to visit on campus? And what makes it your favorite?  
  I am a history buff so my favorite spot is the May 4th tribute areas.
   
• What would people be surprised to learn or know? 
  I am a volunteer fire fighter.  Its nice to live in an area now that we do not have wild fires.  The largest fire I have seen is about 10,000 acres.  Our brush Fire truck in Washington and Idaho hold between 500-900 gallons of water, most around here hold 225 gallons or less.