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Food Literacy Hero

Greg Berger
Food Literacy Hero

May’s Food Literacy Hero, Gregory (Greg) Berger combines his passion for design and good food in a seamless and brilliant way.

His company, Pomegranate Design works with nonprofit organizations and the food industry in Sacramento. Greg is also the creator of the wildly popular food-themed T-shirts honoring Sacramento as America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital.

Food Literacy Center is over the mango moon to have Greg volunteer his time designing awesome food-related print images such as our Food Film Festival logo, our glitter sparkle “veggies” T-shirts, and our annual report and Food Literacy Journal.

“Greg is broccoli brilliant! He takes the fun, colorful elements of our kids’ smiles and our brand and brings them to life through print images,” said Chief Food Genius Amber Stott. “He actually came to us and wanted to volunteer his time because he liked what we are doing. And we haven’t let him leave, because he’s so talented and such a joy to work with!”

Greg first learned about Food Literacy Center while working with Janine Mapurunga’s Sacramento Farmers & Chefs photo project. After finding out what we do, he realized that it fits perfectly with his company’s goal of working with nonprofits and the food industry. He also strongly believes that having an overall knowledge of farming, food transportation and how food ends up on the plate can impact children as they grow.

“You can get a watermelon in December, but is that really the best idea,” Greg mused.

Originally from Ohio, Greg moved to Sacramento in 2001 and is continually inspired by the farmers and chefs in the area. He volunteers his time to cook with local chefs and soaks in the culinary knowledge and inspiration. He’s been working with Chef Keith Breedlove from the Culinerdy Cruizer food truck for a few years now, and also has been working on bread ideas with Chef Adam Pechal. The behind-the-scenes view and hands-on experience give him a perspective he doesn’t get with his desk job.

“Seeing chefs in action, getting on the food truck, and actually cooking and baking things help me up my design work,” said Greg.

Food literacy is important to Greg and his family. They have seven different fruit trees in their yard and they do their best to harvest all the fruits and preserve them. Greg also loves to bake bread from scratch and has been perfecting his sourdough for the last few years. He tries to set a good example for his son to be a food adventurer and try all kinds of healthy fruits and vegetables.

Greg takes his four-year-old son to visit Farmer Jay (Jay Cuff) and Catherine Oh at the farmers market every weekend and counts Jay as one of his biggest food inspirations. Jay runs the Hearty Fork Farm and it has become the highlight of his family’s week to visit the market and find out what they have harvested from the farm.

“I think it’s important that my son sees that food just doesn’t come already made from the grocery store. Here’s the farmer who grew it, here’s what bread looks like before you bake it, here’s what we eat in the spring as opposed to the fall,” said Greg.

For his brilliant food-themed designs, his dedication to Food Literacy Center, and his passion for Sacramento’s locally-sourced foods, we are so pomegranate proud to name Greg our Food Literacy Hero!

 

Article by Heather Teoh

Photo by Debbie Cunningham

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