May 8, 2024

STOP FOOD WASTE DAY SPECIAL

Lessons learned from CulinArt’s account-level Stop Food Waste Day activities, which occurred before, on, and after April 24, included the realization that there is no one way to stop waste—indeed, there are many. During April, the Nudge app showed no shortage of operators’ ideas on how to prevent food waste through purchasing practices, menu management, and the repurposing of peels, trimmings, and stems, among other detritus of meal preparation.

Also emerging from these activities, some of which are explored further below, is the consensus that “stopping food waste” is more than a day; it’s a way of (kitchen) life. Effecting change in guest habits was also a focus, with some operators collecting and weighing food waste to show guests how much food they are taking but not eating. Stop Food Waste Day even brings out our inner Iron Chef, as evidenced by the many Waste Warrior competitions held by CulinArt culinarians across the country.

According to Stephanie Dorfman, MS, RDN, CulinArt accounts conducted 18 Waste Warrior Challenges and 30 Wellness Tables/Teaching Kitchens, all focused on root-to-stem recipes and utilizing food and produce to the fullest.

“It was exciting and inspiring to see how many CulinArt locations got involved for SFWD 2024!” she adds. “We have all furthered our knowledge and skills to help the fight against food waste, and we are excited to see the progress we make between now and SFWD 2025!”

Every day is Stop Food Waste Day to Chef Manager Nick Apostolakos, so it was only natural that he turned up the volume on April 24 (as well as other days that week). This included:

For his Pasta Station(below, left), he blended water used for boiling the pasta (farfalle and gemeli) with leftover Baked Rigatoni, grated smoked Gouda, and provolone, to make a “new” Wine Cream Cheese Sauce (lower right in picture).

For Shrimp Bisque (center), he blended water used for boiling gnocci with ground shrimp tails and potato crisps to use as thickener, straining out any lumps, and served it with Toasted Old Bay-seasoned Sliced Bread.

For Grilled Pork and Vegetables (right), he ground Jalapenos and pineapple peels to make a glaze (strained, of course), with Brussels sprouts, caramelized onion, and a baked gnocchi gratin. He also used stems for a Vegetable Fried Rice.

If you were a Stryker employee, you would have found it tough to concentrate on work last April 18. You ordinarily have to pass through a vast Atrium to get to your office, but on that day, you would have also encountered signage touting the firm’s Environmental Alliance’s activities; an Employee Engagement Table giving out sustainability-themed merch; and a CulinArt Smoothie Bike PopUp, where you would have had to spend at least a couple of minutes pedaling your way to a delicious smoothie assembled by none other than Regional Corporate Dietitian Janelle Lacey, RD, LDN.

Lacey estimates she prepared about a hundred smoothies that day, with Stryker guests who had less time to spare consuming just as many pre-made servings. She also estimates that it takes about a minute’s time on the Smoothie Bike to mix a drink, depending on the pedaler’s enthusiasm and physical fitness, not to mention coordination (and ability to withstand being ogled and photographed). And all of this before lunch…

…during which the Stryker guests were asked to participate in a Waste Warrior Challenge between Chef Sydney Ficarotta, who whipped up a Crispy Skin Lemon Herb Salmon with Whole Wheat Spaghetti Saute with Tomatoes and Rainbow Swiss Chard; and Chef Joe Dolan, who made a Roasted Pork with Pineapple Peel Glaze, Green Rice, Rainbow Carrots, and Pineapple Salsa. From the looks of things (that is, the photo at right), they came out about even in terms of Least Waste.

Meanwhile, it seems customers were just a bit more inclined to purchase Sydney’s salmon than Joe’s roasted pork. Click here to see what Stryker guests saw.

Students paying for meals tend not to waste food, as doing so would be akin to wasting money. So, the fact that the Zero Waste Broccoli Stem and Cheddar Soup sold out at Windward was a win-win: students got what they wanted, and the operation made the most of what it had.

Stevan Lewis, director of dining services, observes that Windward students generally do not throw out much food, nor—since they are teenagers—are they unable to finish what the purchase. Nonetheless, “we have been putting the team’s focus on controlling production and making sure we are controlling waste,” he notes.

The Waste Not Rainbow Carrot Salad was just as popular with faculty and staff, according to Lewis, and it is with this segment of his audience that efforts to minimize or eliminate food waste resonate most. “It is important to know that this is a big part of doing our part and making sure we reduce food waste by planning our menus and utilizing as much of the product as we can,” he adds.

Is there truth in trash? Christine Lowe, chef manager, aims to find out. She conducted daily Weigh the Waste campaigns, setting up bins for students to scrape their uneaten foods into, designated by grade. Not surprisingly, the Kindergarteners’ and First Graders’ bins collected the most waste, which steadily decreased among the grades above.

All told, the contents of the collection bins weighed about 45 pounds. “The students were very interested and excited to see who had the most [waste in their bin],” Lowe says, “and how to cut back. They asked a lot of questions.” Two trends quickly emerged:

Waste in the lower grades directly correlates to education on portion sizes. “The youngest children are still learning,” Lowe notes. “They cannot always read or understand the labels. We are trying to teach them that it is all you care to eat, to take less, and to come back if you are still hungry.”

Waste decreased as the week progressed as students viewed the proof and grasped the reality of what they were taking from the serving line, not eating, and discarding—such as whole rolls or bagels, entire servings of tots or tenders, and whole prepared sandwiches opened and thrown away. “I think it was very eye-opening not only to the children, but to the faculty, to see how much their children waste.”

Lowe is very much on a mission to educate students about food waste prevention through better portioning—how to take less but still eat enough, to eat a variety of items, “and to remember that you can always come back for more,” she adds.

“We also tried to instill in the children that not only are we wasting food, but we are wasting all the resources to make the food—water, time, energy, fossil fuels, ingredients, land, carbon emissions. Doing what we did for just a few days gave some good insight into what the faculty need to instill in the students’ dining hall habits.”

Maryann Pierzga, dir. of dining services, had an easy answer to the question of whether, in celebrating Stop Food Waste Day, to conduct a Waste Warrior Challenge or a Weigh the Waste campaign: both.

REC Gerardo Calderon (above, right) stepped up to participate in the Challenge, preparing Cauliflower Fried Rice with Rumaki Style Broccoli. His opponent: Tom Hinman, executive chef at the school, throwing down Baked Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins with Root to Stem Turkey Chili and Melted Swiss Cheese. As for the students, they preferred the latter, voting them Best Taste.

Waste-weighing took place over a two-week period—before and after Earth Day—in order to gauge whether classroom and dining hall Earth Week activities raised students’ awareness and changed their habits.

“The findings show that the lower school students are filling their plates at the salad and deli bars, and with lots of rice,” Pierzga says. “Self-serve items are the culprits. The saying ‘Your eyes are bigger than your stomach’ definitely applies here.”

Rumsey Hall’s marketing department made sure to document all this and more. Check out these links for their news post, photo album, and video.

The UNHQ resides on sovereign soil but battles of wit and wisdom take place there all the time—from tense international standoffs during the General Assembly to days-long negotiations of far-off political and military skirmishes.

Within this setting of intrigue, nuance, and diplomacy there recently took place a conflict of less threatening but no less profound import—a CulinArt Waste Warrior Challenge pitting REC Lindsey Romain (above, second from left) against UN Sous Chef Edwin Garcia (second from right).

Held in the UN’s famed Delegates Dining Room, the Challenge drew the attention of about 30 UN employees. Six judges—including CulinArt President Peter Witkowski (left), Director of Special Events and Catering Lee Hayden (right), Stephanie Dorfman, as well as three UN officials—were unanimous in their decision that Romain’s Seared Vegetable Potato Stack with Za’atar Tofu merited the “Least Waste” achievement, while Garcia’s Chicken Lo Mein deserved to be known for “Best Taste."

At Point Park University, Executive Chef Todd Weiss (left) went head-to-head with none other than CulinArt’s top chef, Peter Klein, in an outdoor Waste Warrior Challenge made possible by a rare mild Pittsburgh day in April.

An audience of about 50 students sampled Klein’s Koshari with Spicy Tomato Sauce and Weiss’s Waste Not Rainbow Salad, and through their applause showed equal preference for the dishes, says Director of Dining Services Kristy Weiss.

Meanwhile, five judges (campus administrators and faculty) did their own sampling and decreed the Koshari (the national dish of Egypt) as having “Best Taste” and the Rainbow Salad as creating the “Least Waste.” 

Concern for food waste is nothing to new Wheeler students. The school has long been working with a composting partner to turn its food and other waste into nutrient-dense soil, and its Environmental Action Committee has done much to educate older students about the benefits of composting, avoiding waste, and environmental impact.

So it was no surprise that their interest in seeing how much (or little) waste was produced by each recipe in their recent Waste Warrior challenge was high. On that point, Chef Manager J.C. Mobriant’s Smoked Paprika Chicken with Potato and Cauliflower Hash recorded the Least Waste; the dish also tied with Guest Chef Brian D’Angelo’s Pork with Pineapple Glaze for Best Taste.

“The students were adamant that the votes be equal” in the Best Taste category, says Victoria Hieber, director of dining services. “All of the waste produced will be sent with our compost to be turned into soil. We even used some of the pineapple peel that went with Brian's recipe to make a pineapple water."

As in other locations, younger students at Wheeler have more to learn about food waste than their older counterparts. “Being in a school environment has had its challenges with regards to food waste,” Hieber explains. “The younger kids tend to take what they want and eat what they can. The older kids are more conscientious.”

If you had to guess, what would you think the students at Trinity-Pawling prefer: mac-and-cheese or mushroom tacos? That’s what Jason Swartz, director of dining services, sought to find out in pitting Mike Paciello, executive chef at the school, against Rob Kreiser, float chef in the Hilary Ham district.

Chef Rob’s Baked Broccoli and Cheddar Mac and Cheese with Whole Plum Tomato Sauce and Broccoli Stem Slaw was the odds-on favorite, but it was Chef Mike’s Mushroom Asada Tacos with Tomato “Wholy-Moly” and Radi-cumber Slaw that took the Best Taste prize. “It was quite a surprise to see the Mushroom Taco pull that off,” Swartz notes. Chef Rob nonetheless was pleased garnering the Least Waste honor.

Almost 90 students and staff participated in the event, which Swartz hopes raises concern about food waste in particular and waste in general. “We need to get better,” he admits of the guests’ commitment to the cause. “We are composting, but they have a tendency to take more food than is needed. We ask them to finish what they have [first] and [then] come back for more.”

Supervisor Kim Nunziato signifies Chef Mike’s Best Taste award, as Least Waste winner Chef Rob Kreister looks on.

Stop Food Waste Day as an annual event, a weekly focus, and special day are all well and good, but “it really can’t be for just a week,” Swartz notes. “It needs to be a daily part of our lives. Taking the scraps of the broccoli stalks and turning that into a meal was incredible. I am hoping as a company we can come up with other recipes and continue to build on this program.”

Students at the Golf Performance Academy are naturally competitive, so it was perfectly natural that they compete in CulinArt’s Waste Warrior Challenge. Both Team Chef Leslie (as in DiNapoli, the chef manager) and Team Chef Angie (as in Peccini, manager of culinary development) went head-to-head to see which could make the best-tasting and least-wasting Waste Not Shaker Salad.

But it’s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game, right? During the competition, the two chefs coached their teams throughout the preparation process, teaching them culinary skills such as knife handling and proper cutting techniques. 

In the end, Team Chef Angie claimed both prizes, with taste determined by judges and waste measured by scale. “So many laughs were had and everyone had lots of fun,” DiNapoli recounts. “It was the perfect way to teach students about the importance of minimizing food waste.” Click here for more photos of the event.

Looking for more tips on Sustainable Eating and Living? Check out CulinArt’s Instagram for tips from top CulinArt chefs and RDs.

Also: Utilize Envision’s Waste Strategy Guide and Catering Guide for best practices your café can use beyond Stop Food Waste Day. And have your team take the Becoming A Food Waste Champion Training to get them on board and for additional tips on food waste reduction.

Have a question? Want to contribute?

Send e-mail to jpond@culinartinc.com

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