Understanding Halal Foods
SAGE Community
Our mission is to create exceptional dining experiences that delight the senses, inspire minds, and foster community. Fostering community means many things, including understanding and teaching about different eating patterns. In this three-part series, we explore halal and kosher dietary laws. While many people associate the two because they are both used by religious groups and forbid consuming pork, there are key differences that we'll explain. Here we explore halal. What does halal mean? An Arabic word meaning “permissible,”...
Comparing Halal and Kosher Foods
SAGE Community
Our mission is to create exceptional dining experiences that delight the senses, inspire minds, and foster community. Fostering community means many things, including understanding and teaching about different eating patterns. In this three-part series, we explore halal and kosher dietary laws. While many people associate the two because they are both used by religious groups and forbid consuming pork, there are key differences that are explained in this post. In future posts, we’ll take a closer look at halal and...
One-on-One with a SAGE Team Member: Wendy Lambert
SAGE Community, One-on-One, Featured Venue
Team Member Wendy Lambert has been with SAGE at St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton for 21 years this November. His incredible work ethic, respect for those around him, and contagious sense of humor make a difference in his community every day. Student Geoffrey Atulo even wrote about Wendy in an essay on character: “Wendy was the jolliest and most positive being I had ever seen. I decided to be like [him]. Through [his] exuberant character, I was able to...
One-on-One with a SAGE Team Member: Kevin Borelli
SAGE Community, One-on-One
Kevin Borelli, Chef at The MacDuffie School in Granby, MA, has been in food service since 1979, and with SAGE since 1991. Here, Kevin talks about his long history in food service, his leadership strategy, and what keeps him happy in work and at home. How did you become interested in food service? I was originally interested in mechanics, so I went to a trade school. When I saw all the baked goods in the culinary arts program [at the...
One-on-One with a SAGE Sales Executive: Paul Berry
SAGE Community, One-on-One
After 15 years with SAGE, Northeast Sales Executive Paul Berry is retiring. We’re so grateful for the energy, dedication, and integrity Paul has brought to our community over the years—not to mention the 46 venues he’s brought into our fold! We’re celebrating Paul’s SAGE career with a special one-on-one where he reflects on service, partnership, and the importance of keeping promises. How’d you get started with SAGE? I made one copy of my resume, one only, because I wasn’t crazy...
One-on-One with a SAGE Food Service Director: Mashaye Barr
SAGE Community, One-on-One
Mashaye Barr, former Food Service Director (FSD) at St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School, and newly-appointed AFSD at McDonogh School, took my call during a busy afternoon of what she called “magic”—making orange-blueberry muffins with her much-loved team. How’d you get into food service? My Uncle Peppi owned two restaurants in Baltimore. He taught me about food and integrity. I always had a hot meal with him, and got the greatest advice. He encouraged me to learn from the best:...
One-on-One with a SAGE Food Service Director: Kerry Watts
SAGE Community, One-on-One
Kerry Watts is the SAGE Food Service Director at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, VA. Kerry’s been with SAGE for eight years, all of which she’s spent with her community at Hargrave. How did you get started with food service? I got a job at the local pizza joint during college. It felt very natural. I picked up restaurant gigs when I moved to Colorado, and then to Santa Fe, where I started working in restaurants that actually got press...
One-on-One with a SAGE FSD: Rylan Jeffries
SAGE Community, One-on-One
Meet Rylan Jeffries, a former junior softball Olympian and the beloved Food Service Director of River Oaks Baptist School in Houston. How did you get into cooking? My husband—who’s also a SAGE Food Service Director, incidentally—is the reason I got into cooking. I was 21 at the time, and when he came over to my apartment, there was really no food in the house. Somehow he managed to put together this crazy casserole with chicken, cheese, olives, and cornichons. If...