Our Philosophy

“As a joyful vegan, I love the fresh, nutritious and delicious foods that Back to Earth prepares. Their commitment to quality shines through their fantastic food and their beautiful, artful presentation. Back to Earth is always my first choice for any catered event.”

– Julia Butterfly Hill, Activist, Author & Founder of Circle of Life

For Back to Earth, food is much more than a simple culinary endeavor. It is also our form of activism. Our core philosophy and the overall principle that drives our business is conscious food that is good for our bodies, our communities, and our planet.

If you visit our kitchen and look on our shelves you will see that in addition to organic grains, veggies, and dairy, our legumes, spices, oils, baking chocolate, teas, and coffee are organic too - and fair-trade as much as possible.

We extend our philosophy beyond food as we work hard to educate ourselves and our community about ways to minimize waste and soften our impact on the world. We try hard to remove the concept of disposables for less formal events. Towards this goal, we use paper goods made from recycled and compostable, non-chlorine bleached papers. Our utensils are made from compostable and biodegradable wheat and other natural plastics, cups from corn plastics, and trash bags out of compostable plastics too. We also clothe our staff in t-shirts made from fair-trade organic cotton and hemp.

Our philosophy fully permeates the way we approach our work, treat our staff, communicate with our vendors, and provide service to our clients. We strive to be compassionate, engaged people - aware of others beyond ourselves - who treat all people with kindness and respect. We communicate honestly and proactively and with the highest integrity. In short, we try very hard to be the change we want to see in the world.

From the dawn of human existence on earth, food has provided us with fuel for life. The entire evolution of the human species has relied on clean air, fresh water, and healthy food to power our bodies and enable us to be what we are in this world. It has been this way for thousands and thousands of years. But recently, things have changed. In the past 100 years, we have changed our relationship with the earth. We have mistreated our water, our air, and our food.

While our bodies are remarkably resilient, we are seeing the effects of this poisoning all around us. Increasing cancer rates, birth defects, obesity, allergies, and myriad other conditions are impacting increasing numbers of people every year.

A long time ago, when food was about nourishing ourselves and providing us with energy to live our lives, our relationship with food was much more sacred. Now food is an industry. People make decisions based on financial and political considerations instead of availability and nutrition.

Back to Earth exists to turn this trend around, to bring us back to our roots, and to honor that this planet that has provided us with abundance since our very first steps.

We look forward to working with you, learning about your vision, and working together to create a beautiful world.

Back to Earth is a Certified Green Business
Click here to learn more about the Bay Area Green Business Program