Although most students can not tell you what he looks like, Chef John Everett Phillips’ work impacts thousands at Iowa State every day.

Phillips is the executive chef of ISU Dining, overseeing a staff of seven professionally trained white-coat chefs and more than 280 cooks, and is involved in all aspects of food preparation, menu creation, new dining programs and business responsibilities on campus.

Phillips, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, has more than 20 years of experience in food preparation and management. Before arriving at Iowa State five years ago, he created a top-notch bakery in New York and worked for Marriott Hotels, overseeing the start-up of culinary programs at new Marriotts throughout the U.S.

Phillips enjoyed the fast pace, hectic environment of the East Coast, but said he finds life at Iowa State equally challenging and interesting.

Aside from dealing directly with the three dining centers on campus, responsibilities of the dining service staff include catering a variety of functions on the ISU campus, alumni dinners, preparing food for the campus cafes and all the sky box meals at sporting events. With so many responsibilities, Phillips emphasizes the importance of teamwork, “We are a strong team. None of us could do this by ourselves.”

Most of the work chefs at ISU Dining do is behind the scenes — for Phillips and his team, creating healthy, innovative items catering to the diverse tastes of students is always a challenge. One step Phillips hopes will help is ridding all menu items of trans fat, an ongoing process at Iowa State.

“We now specifically ask every vendor we buy food from for products which don’t contain any trans fat,” he said.

The desire to make healthier food more accessible to students drives much of the work at ISU Dining. Phillips takes a hands-on approach to almost everything he does, including making sure vegetarian students have adequate options.

“I spent a month eating nothing but vegetarian dining center foods to get a greater understanding of what it is like to be a vegetarian college student and see if it was possible to find enough vegetarian options,” Phillips said.

He found it was possible, although it took a little work to find the right foods from various locations throughout the Union Drive Marketplace dining center. In the future, Phillips hopes to make vegetarian food stations accessible to all students.

In addition to vegetarian needs, ISU Dining is continually bringing in more food from local vendors. Currently, 10 percent of the food on campus is locally grown, with a five-year goal of 35 percent.

While the food on campus may be locally grown, the menu items range from American staples to Middle Eastern fare. Culturally-themed dining is not new to Iowa State, but Phillips and his team are attempting to take it to a new level.

“We are adding items to the menu and trying to make it more pronounced,” Phillips said. Thai, sushi and Indian food, among others, will be appearing at the three campus dining centers to give students an opportunity to try foods they may previously not have had exposure to and make dining more fun.

Many of the recipes used by ISU Dining are adaptations from those brought in by international students.

“We work with international students and the international food fair to get new ideas and recipes,” Phillips said.

After the recipes are brought in, they are aii tested and adapted for large-scale production. Phillips said they are always looking for new ideas and ways to make foods.

“Sometimes students may bring in a recipe with a new way to prepare something, and it might end up being the best way,” Phillips said.

Working with students to create a customized dining experience is something ISU Dining hopes students will appreciate and take advantage of. By participating in special dining events, bringing in recipes from home and providing feedback on new menu items, expectations are high for what ISU Dining can bring to students.

“I think it’s exciting. It makes meals seem not so everyday,” said Madison Cronk, sophomore in graphic design.

“It exposes people to food they might not normally get to eat and gives variation to the food you might typically see in a dining center,” Cronk said.

Most importantly, students can follow Phillips’ lead — when asked his favorite part of the job, he put it simply: “eating!”

Chef Everett’s One-Pot-Chicken

1 cooked chicken breast

1 can of baked beans

Dash of Tabasco sauce

Salt and Pepper

Mix all of the above together, warm in a pan over stove until evenly heated and enjoy.

Meet the other chefs:

Name: Thierry Bourroux

Title: Chef and manager at the Union Drive Community Center

School attended: Ecole Hoteliere de Metz in France

Previous Employment: Compass USA — Eurest

Joined ISU Dining: March 2008

Name: Jeffrey Arthur

Title: Sous chef and p.m. assistant manager off-site catering and commissary kitchen

School Attended: Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY campus; AOS Culinary Arts, 2003

Previous Employment: Michael Mina’s Nobhill at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nev.; The Café, Ames; Pavilion at Four Seasons Hotel, Newport Beach, Calif.; The Hotel, Lakeland, Fla. and Aunt Maude’s, Ames

Joined ISU Dining: May 2007

Name: Patrick Feller

Title: Assistant manager 1 – sous chef, Memorial Union

Previous Employment: Estes Valley Resorts, Estes Park, Colo. and Putney Inn, Putney, Vt.

Joined ISU Dining: Two years ago

Name: Don Wolfe

Title: Sous chef and assistant manager at Linden Dining Hall

School Attended: Des Moines Area Community College

Previous Employment: Eurest Dining

Joined ISU Dining: One month ago 

Name: Ed Astarita

Title: Pastry chef

School Attended: Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y.

Previous Employment: The Café, Ames; Aunt Maude’s, Ames; General Electric World Headquarters Corporate Dining, Fairfield, Conn.; The Oyster Bar and Grill, New York, N.Y. and The Ritz Carlton Hotel, Boston, Mass.

Joined ISU Dining: Two and a half years ago

Name: Kevin Streiff

Title: Sous chef, Scheman

School Attended: Des Moines Area Community College

Previous Employment: Boone Golf and Country Club

Joined ISU Dining: Five years ago

—Biography information provided by Brittney Rutherford, communication specialist for the department of residence.