Robert Egger’s Call for Food Equality through Social Enterprise
Get ready to be rocked to your roots. Robert Egger has a record of putting ideas into action and after hearing his presentation at Rooting DC on February 20, you’ll be inspired to jump out of your chair and get to work. This dynamic go-getter founded DC Central Kitchen in 1989 by connecting the dots between food need and food waste—a landmark idea at the time. The organization now produces 4,000 meals a day for Washington’s hungry and provides cycle-breaking education and support through its Culinary Job Training program.
Egger knows DC’s foodscape intimately. In addition to furthering the success of DC Central Kitchen, he chairs the Mayor’s Commission on Nutrition and is actively working to get more local food into schools. His talk at Rooting DC (“Breaking through the Barriers—The Business of Better Food for All,” from 11:45 to 12:45) will spread his infectious enthusiasm for food equality by laying out ideas for what could come next—if we work for it.
As a frequent traveler, Egger speaks to groups around the country and observes other cities’ unique problems, as well as their bold initiatives. He started The Campus Kitchens Project as a replicable model that’s been implemented by 20 universities across the US. As he travels, he keeps an eye out for trends that could become lasting solutions. “Trends are potential. Trends are maybes,” he says.
