Revealing Letter

Gawker has a pretty interesting letter from a disgruntled former (Toronto) Whole Foods employee. It must be read with a grain or two of salt. But…it reveals some telling tidbits about that retailer and the grocery biz in general.

Here are some of the letter’s sarcastic highlights:

Oh, you throw out enough food to feed a lot of hungry university students.

Oh, you just write off 10-20% of the product that you buy for your bulk department because the bins look nice.

Oh, you sometimes intentionally order too much just to guarantee a full shelf, knowing full well the product will most likely be thrown out?

Despite some obvious signs that they guy isn’t a great “team member,” he describes an attitude that I’ve seen throughout the grocery industry: food waste is simply a cost of doing business.

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And also, for no real reason–the amusing Whole Foods Parking Lot video. Foodie angst is no joke!

July 25, 2011 | Posted in Supermarket | Comments closed

86ing Waste

This past week, I gave a series of talks at Mario Batali’s restaurants in LA and Las Vegas. It was an interesting, eye-opening experience.

I learned a fair amount about how restaurants view waste and, hopefully, the warm, professional staff learned a bit about the importance of reducing waste. The restaurant group is already on the right path, as they’re separating and composting scraps, in addition to many other sustainable practices.

In discussions with staff, I realized just how much of a conflict of interest waiters face: ‘upselling,’ or getting to diners to order more than they had planned, financially benefits both waiter and restaurant. Yet, more often than not, it yields waste. One suggested compromise was upselling beverages, not food. Of course, that has other consequences…

I stressed that staff also had a role to play in making doggie bags cool, or at least the norm. Yet that notion seemed to play better in LA than Vegas, where most patrons are out-of-towners, don’t have fridge access, or are going out after eating.

One idea that came up yesterday was intriguing–a restaurant providing repurposing ideas or even recipes on its site to help customers use up leftovers. It certainly can’t hurt!

Thanks to all who attended and to the Batali Bastianich Hospitality Group for hosting me and, true to their name, extending such consistent hospitality.

July 22, 2011 | Posted in Personal, Repurposing, Restaurant | Comments closed

Bataliwood

Today, I’m in L.A., giving a talk to the staff from two Mario Batali-owned restaurants. And I’ll be doing the same for the next three days, speaking twice in both L.A. and Las Vegas.

I’m excited about the opportunity, as it’s a fabulous chance to communicate the importance of waste reduction to some of the culinary elite. And to learn from kitchen staff about the obstacles that they face in trying to reduce waste.

It should be fun, educational and…did I mention that they’ve promised to feed me delicious food? Not to worry–I’ll do my best to prevent waste!

July 18, 2011 | Posted in Personal | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Sodexo’s Stop Wasting Food campaign is approaching its first b-day and remains pretty awesome.

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Nice to see public funds going toward a Love Food, Hate Waste Campaign…in Australia.

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It’s interesting to get a waste hauler’s perspective on greening events and composting.

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Finally, I gotta give my pal Ashley (of Lovin’ Spoonfuls) her props because she’s a one-woman food recovering machine:

July 15, 2011 | Posted in College, Composting, Events, Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, Institutional, International | Comments closed

Loving Unlovely Produce

Epi-Log’s In Praise of Unlovely Produce has the best blog post title I’ve read in a long while. And its sentiment is dead on. The main message:

Vegetables and fruits don’t always have to win swimsuit contests.

Instead, the post preaches, taste should matter more than appearance. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen in the mainstream food chain.

Hence the need to spend your food dollars in places that recognize that uniformity is not necessarily a virtue. If ‘Ugly Tomatoes’ can take off, who knows what’s next!

Backyard gardeners and farmer’s market shoppers will no doubt be able to relate to this message. They know that in addition to possibly tasting better, imperfect produce has more character!

July 13, 2011 | Posted in Supermarket | Comments closed

Crowded Agenda

Happy World Population Day!

Later this year, we’ll hit 7 million people. That’s why one of the 7 billion actions should be getting more efficient with our food. In other words, to waste less.

Just something to think about the next time you find an article about changing agriculture to feed the growing planet that doesn’t address waste. Sure, we’ll probably need to change ag practices, but let’s start by picking the low-hanging fruit–being more efficient!

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On a slightly more personal note, here’s a really well-conducted interview–no surprise there–from the Edible Communities people.

July 11, 2011 | Posted in Environment, Farm, Personal | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Britain’s waste-crusaders, WRAP, have a new report out on hospitality sector waste. View the full report (with the rare consecutive prepositions) here.

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At Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Phoenix, stadium operators will collect and compost food waste.

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The other NRA–the National Restaurant Association–is taking on food court waste. Both at malls and airports!

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A neat idea from a SUNY researcher: Feeding cafeteria food waste to raise fish, then using fish poop to fertilize lettuce. No word yet on whether the lettuce is then served to students, who’d surely decline, sending it back to the fish.

July 8, 2011 | Posted in Composting, Events, Friday Buffet, International | Comments closed

National Freedom Toast Day

Today, if you’re like me, you’ve got a real abundance. The day after a cookout, the most prevalent remains tend to be buns.

And so, because a hefty portion of us will have done some Independence Day grilling, I hereby declare July 5 to be National French Freedom Toast Day. (Think of it as a cousin to National Leftovers Day, or as some people call it, the day after Thanksgiving.)

After all, what the heck else are you going to do with all those extra buns? Sure, you can have another cookout, or enjoy the buns with leftover proteins. But making French toast (even for dinner!) is another, lighter use for those baked goods.

To give full credit, I got the hamburger-bun-to-French-toast idea from The Bay Area’s Eco-Chef. And I had a pleasant experience doing the same with hot dog buns last year.

So I encourage you to give it a shot (or at least find another use for those buns). Do it for your budget, your pantry, or your country. Here’s to freedom and Freedom Toast!

July 5, 2011 | Posted in Household, Life to Leftovers | Comments closed

Friday Double Feature: Local News Embed

After seeing so much food going to waste at their school and learning about a law preventing donation of that food, two Houston boys have set out to change it!

Hopefully the Houston Independent School District does decide to allow students more choice in what lunch items they take. And just seeing the footage of the mass-produced school lunches makes one want to visit The Lunch Box.


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Good to know that some Arizona food scraps are going to hogs. I’ll be visiting a similar scheme in Las Vegas later in the summer.

July 1, 2011 | Posted in School, Waste Stream | Comments closed

You In?

A package-free, zero-waste, crowd-sourced grocery store is in the works in Austin? Holy hyphens!

The store, In.gredients, will open at some point in 2011, as long as their funding outreach progresses.

I’m excited to see this store come to fruition, as it seems like a model for other grocers to aim for. I have one small caveat, though: I don’t demonize all food packaging, because it can prevent food from being damaged, and, eventually, wasted.

That said, I’m guessing that most of the packaging avoided at In.gredients won’t fit that description. And, of course, I’m all for zero-waste with food, be it via donation and composting or anaerobic digestion with the inedible stuff.

Anyway, check out the jaunty video to see the hyphens come to life:

June 29, 2011 | Posted in Supermarket | Comments closed