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Holden Bussey

As part of our mission to influence the next generation of thoughtful chefs and curious eaters, we’ve partnered with Feastly to make community the first ingredient in our summer camps. With the help of Feastly, local chefs receive venue spaces and marketing assistance so that they can spend more time focusing on creativity in the kitchen. This summer, Feastly donated venue spaces to Sprouts that quickly became home to the culinary explorations of our campers! As both the Camp Director at Sprouts and the Venue Manager at Feastly, Holden is the team member who works alongside the chefs and campers cooking up all the culinary magic. It’s his unwavering enthusiasm and passion for food education that have made our cooking classes in Feastly kitchens so incredible. We caught Holden between busy camp days to get his perspective on how Feastly and Sprouts are shaping the future of food.

 

The Inside Scoop

How does Feastly work with local chefs?

Feastly allows chefs to have a medium and to have a platform for which they can prepare meals and really express themselves through food. Feastly provides the marketing and the venue for the chefs, so the chef gets to just focus on creativity and the execution, then Feastly does the behind-the-scenes aspect of it, getting them the audience.

How do Feastly and Sprouts work together?

Feastly has been generous enough to allow Sprouts to go into these pop-up venues and allow campers to have free reign, to execute recipes, to learn, and to be in these alternative spaces and appreciate food within that context.

 

What aspect of Sprouts made you interested in being part of summer camps?

It’s the concept of food literacy; I believe that it’s really important for people of all ages to have an understanding, and think a little bit deeply, about where their food comes from, how it’s prepared, and how it affects their body. That drew me to this concept of culinary education.

Tell us about a chef you cooked with at a Feastly location. 

Eric Pascual from Eats By E; when he cooks with the kids, it’s almost like his mother cooking with him. It’s interesting to see how that food story gets passed down generation to generation, and it’s beautiful that through a camp like Sprouts, food that’s so close to Eric and his heart and his family can be shared with students — the potential next generation of chefs — and really open up their eyes to these flavors, these cuisines, and also to the history that’s associated with it.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned by working at Sprouts?

I have often been astonished with how knowledgeable and thoughtful a lot of these campers are in terms of food and agriculture. It’s really encouraging in terms of the next generation and the hope that we can shift the way we view food societally into something that’s hopefully more healthful for the environment and the individual.

 

What else should we know about the Feastly and Sprouts collaboration?

The emphasis of both of these organizations is on food, community, and the potential that food has to bring people together. Feastly is big on communal dining, and at Sprouts, we try to emphasize that same aspect — we cook together, we eat together, we clean together, and everyone’s looking out for each other in the kitchen. I’m personally pleased to be part of not just two organizations, but two communities. It’s wonderful that these communities have been able to merge. That’s the goal: food is a way to bring people and to bring organizations together.