Today’s Food Waste Friday is a spotlight on Food Waste Feast (Instagram) whom I learnt about while reviewing posts with #foodwastewarriors. The following are the responses to my food waste questions.
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
A: Food Waste Feast is a project by two sisters, Mei and Irene Li, who co-founded a restaurant and love food, community and sustainability. Through useful tips, strategies and recipes, Food Waste Feast aims to help people cook more creatively and stop wasting perfectly good food. Find no-waste tips, strategies and recipes at foodwastefeast.com and @foodwastefeast and in a cookbook coming early 2022!
Q: What are your thoughts on our current food waste situation?
A: There’s a huge waste problem in the United States, with as much as 40% of food going to waste when so many people don’t have access to enough food to eat. It’s a problem across the food industry that’s been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, with regular supply chains disrupted and large-scale buyers like hotels and restaurants unable to purchase at previous levels. On the bright side, it’s an opportunity for many people remaining at home to reduce their food waste to keep cooking interesting, minimize grocery trips and save money.
A: Our focus is on helping people cook more creatively and save more food, whether they are shopping and cooking just for themselves or for a large group of people. Approximately 43% of the food wasted in the US is wasted in individual households and we’d like to help people eat better, get more comfortable cooking, and save money. Our goal is to help people cook and eat all the food they buy, whether by repurposing leftovers, using up scraps, freezing and storing, or just rethinking how they consume certain ingredients.
Q: What do you suggest is the easiest action a person can make when i comes to reducing their food waste?
A: We have 2 favorite tips that anyone can easily implement: First, start an ‘Eat Me First’ Box in your fridge so people know what needs to be used up first – ours holds lemon and apple halves, cut onions, lone garlic cloves, wrinkled fruits and more. Second is to use your freezer – freeze cut bread, overripe bananas, mushy fruit and so much more, just be sure to label and date it!
