Andrew Nowak

Farmer & School Garden Leader

Andrew Nowak recently stepped down as the Director of the National School Garden Program for Slow Food USA and was responsible for building capacity of nearly 150 Slow Food chapters to be partners in school garden projects. For 12 years he was the co-director of Slow Food Denver’s Seed-to- Table School Food Program and developed protocols for Youth Farmers’ Markets and Garden to Cafeteria programs.

Since 2009, Andrew has been the District Partner for Denver Public Schools and Jefferson County Schools helping to source local fruits, vegetables and meats for the cafeterias, to develop scratch cooking and salad bars in schools, and the development of school farms to grow organic vegetables for school kitchens. Andrew was appointed to the CO Farm to School Task Force in 2010 and headed up working groups on Farm to School Evaluation and Marketing. On the National level, Andrew is a Hall of Fame Chef with Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters program and was one of 6 chefs invited to the White House in 2010 to help develop the Chefs Move to Schools Program.

Andrew has been a culinary professional for over 30 years and earned his Ph.D. in Psychology/Neuroscience at the University of Iowa in 1991. Andrew and his vascular surgeon wife Lisa of 31 years are embarking on a new adventure on a 17-acre farm and building a Farm to Table Campus to create community around the growing, preparing and enjoying fresh local foods.