98 billion pounds of food thrown away yearly in America

[SoCalDem]

http://www.good.is/post/Stop-Feeding-Your-Garbage-Can/

Talking to the chef of America's least wasteful restaurant


Of the 350 billion pounds of food produced in America each year, we throw away a gut-wrenching 98 billion pounds, 98 percent of which ends up in landfills. According to the EPA, landfills are the largest human-related source of methane in the United States, accounting for 34 percent of all methane emissions. Methane from landfills is generated when organic food waste decomposes under anaerobic conditions. Our rotting food is therefore a major contributor to global climate change. The retail food industry, which includes restaurants, is responsible for 54 billion pounds of this waste, and hemorrhages $44 billion a year in wasted food. Fortunately, a few chefs are working to reverse this trend.

Leading the charge against food wastefulness are chef Russ Moore and his wife Allison Hopelain, the co-owners of Camino, a restaurant in Oakland, California. They recently sat down with GOOD to discuss conservation, great food, and the steps they take to avoid wasting a single leaf of lettuce or a biodynamic drop of wine.

camino-radish

GOOD: Why is it important for you to use everything?

RUSS MOORE: Everything we use has value. Someone harvested it, someone grew it, someone cared about it. Most restaurants buy in bulk; they get these cheap standardized products. Our carrots come from a farmer and are not all the same size and shape; they take longer to work with, they require more skill and attention to cook properly. These are the best products as far as taste and flavor, but also the best in terms of the standards for how they were sustainably raised, grown, and harvested.

G: Is the recent attention to understanding the entire food process changing how you cook?

RM: I should stress nothing is new here. This is all really old. It is classic French style; it's how you were supposed to use all of the food you had available. Using everything is a challenge and part of being a chef. It's part of what you are supposed to do.

G: What are some ways to maximize your ingredients?

RM: If I cook a vegetable in water, I'm not going to throw away that water. That vegetable has imparted great flavor, so I'll use the juices and extracts left over from, say, my artichoke water. Maybe I'm baking an egg with cardoons and mushrooms; I know that my little bit of artichoke juice from the left-over water will make sense with that egg, so I take a cazuela , add olive oil and the leftover juice, and then put the egg on top. I cook it in the fire, baking the egg from above in the air and below in the liquid.

Eggs are precious. We can't get as many of the Soul Food farm eggs in the winter so we have to use them all well. Say you need egg yokes to make a mayonnaise; most places just throw the egg whites away. We'll use the whites to make a meringue or give them to the bartenders to make frothy drinks.

snip

[hlthe2b]

1. Whole Foods has to be the most aggrievous offender...

I tried to ask an employee what happens to all the packaged gourmet deli food (let alone all the tortes and desserts and breads and....) in those cases that never seem to diminish in quantity.... Yet, you know that they can't have those shrimp platters and other highly perishable foods for long.... While WF may donate some food, he squirmed when I asked about this and as much as admitted they have obscene levels of wastage. I suspect they don't donate these high end foods for fear of losing demand or some such explanation.

No wonder the Sonoma chicken salad I used to (very occasionally) indulge in, is now a whopping $11.99 per pound. No more!

[SoCalDem]

2. World's BEST chicken salad..homemade, easy & CHEAP

DO NOT ADD SALT & PEPPER

saute' chicken breasts in olive oil...sprinkle on some Salad Supreme and cover with tight lid..turn & give a sprinkle more..

refrigerate overnight

cut in quarters and give 'em a blast in the food chopper

set aside..

chop (food processor again) an onion

julienne, then dice some celery

mix the onion & celery with the crumbled/diced chicken.. add in whatever else you like..chopped grapes, nuts, pickle, hardboiled egg, raisins, sunflower seeds..

I'm a purist..just chicken celery & onion

stir in mayo to get the consistency you like.. give it a little more Salad Supreme to get the flavor you want..

I've never served this to anyone who did NOT ask for the recipe:evilgrin:

is the secret ingredient

[hlthe2b]

3. thank YOU!

I hadn't ever heard of Salad Supreme... What's in it? Your recipe seems very straight forward... I'll give it a try. ;)

[SoCalDem]

4. It's the most amazing spice... great for potatoes too

cubed raw potatoes, browned in olive oil..with sliced onions..also browned.. sprinkle Salad supreme..continue browning until all is crispy.. guaranteed to have NO leftovers...unless you plan ahead and make LOTS like I do :)

Here's what's in it:



This blend of Romano cheese, sesame and poppy seeds, paprika, garlic, and black pepper adds great flavor and a colorful garnish to tossed salads or pasta salads.
USAGE

Supreme Pasta Salad


MIX 4 cups cooked pasta, 3 1/2 cups chopped fresh vegetables, 1 cup Italian salad dressing and 4 tablespoons seasoning.

REFRIGERATE until ready to serve.

TOSS before serving.
USAGE

Sprinkle over salad, baked potatoes, pasta, hamburgers and vegetables.


Refrigeration after opening prolongs freshness.
PRODUCT INGREDIENTS
ROMANO CHEESE (PART-SKIM COW'S MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES), SALT, SESAME SEED, POPPY SEED, PAPRIKA, CELERY SEED, GARLIC, BLACK PEPPER, SILICON DIOXIDE (ADDED TO MAKE FREE FLOWING), AND RED PEPPER.
AVAILABLE SIZE
1/4 tsp. (0.6 g)
AVAILABLE SIZE
2.62 ounces, UPC 5210000553; 11.5 ounces, UPC 5210027202
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Calories:0 Fat:0 g Cholesterol: 0 mg Protein: 0 g Sodium: 60 mg Carbohydrates: 0 g Fiber: 0 g

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Whole Foods? Every supermarket has a deli counter and...

a salad bar. And aisles and aisles of fresh, frozen, canned, and processed food with an expiration date.

And every lunch counter has chicken salad.

All of this must be gotten rid of by law, and little can be donated to food banks or soup kitchens. Some could be pig food, compost, or something else vaguely useful, but too much of it is in areas with no pigs or enough compost already.

So it gets dumped.

[hlthe2b]

6. Sorry... the deli foods at Safeway, Krogers, etc. pale in comparison

Laws regarding donation to soup kitchens vary by locale, btw. And, you don't think $11.99 per pound for Whole Food's chicken salad is a bit high? Geebus... Must be nice being you-- or perhaps you don't do the shopping in the household and don't realize most supermarket deli chicken salad goes for half that (as it was priced at Whole FOods up until about a year ago).... But, then you seem to be very protective of "whole paycheck, inc." and their practices. :shrug:

[SoCalDem]

7. dirty little secret here

Back when I worked at a supermarket I NEVER bought the deli chicken salad.. why?

it was made from the left over unsold broiler chickens & the "veggies" were usually the wilted ones used as garnish inside the deli case :puke:

[hlthe2b]

8. I'm not surprised... It sort of tastes like it...

yuck....

I credit WF with using quality ingredients.... It just seems like they could find a middle ground between 4-star restaurant prices and standard grocery store deli.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. What's price got to do with it? In the Hamptons you can pay...

well over 50 bucks a pound for chicken salad. There are these tiny containers they sell for 5 bucks and up and the sandwiches and platters are tres costly. I don't defend any of this. Truth is, I don't really care if someone with the money spends too much on designer chicken salad platters-- it doesn't affect the overall supply or quality. Should they use free-range and "organic" chickens to make this stuff, it could actually improve the supply the supply by creating more demand. Or, it might not.

Me, I make my own, and I pay maybe 2-3 bucks a pound for it, after figuring the waste from the skin and bones and the other stuff going into it. I do not eat in the Hamptons.

The point is that most places are pretty much required to toss their unsold salads as often as daily, and the food charities won't take that sort of thing, so it all gets dumped. Most food banks are feeling a pinch from restaurants and supermarkets learning how to reduce the surpluses they used to have, and we're at a point where more and more of the "surplus" is unfit for consumption and must be tossed.