Preserving the legacy of Bay Area Action’s environmental work from 1990–2000 and beyond.
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EEAT was the brainchild of Laura Stec, longtime BAA volunteer and food activist. A trained chef, Laura married two of her interests and passions through EEAT, developing a number of programs and events over the years that highlighted how people can make positive environmental change through their daily food choices.
EEAT used the “Full Circle Food Cycle” to educate about:
1994–2005
The Decadent Dinner Parties were semi-regular savory, salubrious feasts combining gourmet vegan / macrobiotic cuisine and environmental education into gala social affairs, celebrating a different theme each event. Themes included the Like Water for Chocolate Party, BAAchnalian Banquet, Homebrew and BAA-B-Q, and the Sing and Cook Italian Party.
1997–1999
PPLP educated kids (and teachers and administrators) in the Palo Alto Unified School District on the ecological and nutritional aspects of food choices, and promoted changes in school lunch menus. PPLP was a collaborative effort with Chefs Collaborative 2000 and Palo Alto Humane Society (Laura Pitts). Almost every month of 2000.
circa 1999–2001
Organic, vegan/macrobiotic, high-vibe community dinners held regularly at the BAA office at 264 Moffett Blvd in Mountain View. Much less elaborate and more casual versions of Decadent Dinners, these seasonal weekly affairs brought regulars to share meals around tables near the BAA organic garden. “An opportunity for me to make some money,” said Laura in 2025.
When BAA moved offices to Mountain View and had a full kitchen, Laura devised the Thursday Night Dinner Salon, where EEAT made tasty presentations about the “Full Circle Food Cycle” at the BAA office, often setting up in the garden when the weather was nice.
Chef Stec offered in-person classes such as:
Classes took place at BAA’s Mountain View office, and occasionally at other locations.
Chef Stec regularly presented workshops about the Full Circle Food Cycle at companies such as Sun Microsystems, and organizations such as Stanford Business School. Workshops often included at least a partial cooking demo (if time and facilities permitted), and always included food and product tastings.
Whether you were interested in learning how to eat lower on the food chain or just wanted a healthy corporate lunchtime event, Chef Stec could cater to personal or corporate needs, designing special events such as Noontime Food Fests, Food Schmoozes, and Catering for a Cause.
Annual Earth Day events being a particular focus of BAA, Laura regularly coordinated an EEAT event — usually a Decadent Dinner — with that year’s Earth Day theme (see the complete list on the Decadent Dinner Parties page).
The 1996 theme, “The Planet on Your Plate,” was particularly relevant to EEAT and Laura made important contributions to organizing the coalition, press, and events that year. The Earth Day Decadent Dinner that year was called the Sustainable Supper.
The various EEAT programs and events garnered a fair amount of press through the years, as Laura was skilled at reaching out to journalists, inviting them to attend events and experience the food and environment personally.
Editor’s note: We have at least 15 press clipping we’re processing in the BAA Archives, and will add them here.
In 2008 Laura Stec co-authored a book with Dr. Eugene Cordero, Cool Cuisine, Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming, which she acknowledged in 2025 was the summation of her work through the years at BAA educating people on the connection between food and the environment.
In retrospect, EEAT was a pioneer, one of the very first NGO programs in the United States to educate the public about the connections between food and the environment. Ultimately, said Laura in 2025, the goal was changing people’s behavior for the better — for the environment, for themselves.
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