Real Food Challenge named Manny Aguilar, who has worked in Northwestern dining halls for 23 years, as a finalist in the Worker Leader category for the first annual Real Food Awards.
Aguilar is one of 19 finalists, nominated by students on university campuses across the nation, who was recognized for his exceptional leadership in the dining and worker communities.
Winners in the Student and Worker Leader categories, who will be announced Nov. 18, will receive a $750 cash prize, a certificate of recognition and will be featured on the RFC website.
He said this is the first award he has received in his years working at NU, and it is a great honor to be recognized for something he loves to do.
“I basically really love cooking,” Aguilar said. “I always make sure the kids come back for seconds. I speak to them about the food I create and the new dishes, and they appreciate it.
Aguilar said he believes it is important to have locally grown food provided in dining halls in order to support small businesses instead of big companies.
“When it comes to supporting the farmers around the neighborhood, I approve of that and I’m excited for that, but we need to push it forward and let people recognize that we need to support each other by supporting them,” he said. “It’s a great idea, it’s beautiful and we need to push it forward so kids can tell the difference and see how great it tastes with the real ingredients.”
RFC has helped “shift” $35 million in universities across the country to real food, aiming to encourage schools to spend at least 20 percent of food purchasing resources on healthy, fair and green food, according to a press release from the organization.
SESP junior Rebecca Portman said she nominated Aguilar last year when she, as a member of NU’s Living Wage Campaign, met worker committees participating in the RFC. Aguilar is a member of UNITE HERE!, an organization representing food service workers in North America.
“One of the people who worked in the union encouraged us to nominate whichever worker we were closest with or who we thought was best suited for the worker leader award and it was a clear choice,” Portman said. “To me, Manny was the strongest leader.”
Portman said Aguilar is known as a “dining hall celebrity.” She said he loves to ask students about themselves, seeing himself as a “caretaker” as well as a worker in the dining halls.
“Of the workers that I know, he takes a lot of pride in what he does for the students,” she said.
The recognition that comes with being a finalist in the Real Food Awards, Aguilar said, inspires him to continue working, “hopefully for another 20 years.”
“It gives me the strength to continue doing what I’m doing,” Aguilar said. “Like Superman who can’t be strong without his cape, you guys are my cape. It makes me feel better and makes me appreciate and gives me more reason to come to work with a big smile and put on my hat and get ready to throw down like Bobby Flay and take care of the food for the kids.”
