One Man's Food Waste is Another Chef's Treasure

A recent study shows that 26.1% of the total food budget ($432,349 of food) is discarded by middle school students annually at lunch in Boston middle schools (Cohen et al, 2013).

NATIONAL TREND Kids are right in line with the rest of America: An estimated 25 – 40% of food grown, processed and transported in the US will never be consumed.

WHY CARE? When food is disposed in a landfill it rots and becomes a significant source of methane - a potent greenhouse gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. More food reaches landfills and incinerators than any other single material in municipal solid waste (MSW).

SOLVE THE PROBLEM: I am proud that the Urban Farm to Kitchen program can be part of the solution to food waste. This week, we're using a fraction of our rescued strawberries in our Beverage Taste Test class. These strawberries were not rotten or damaged - just delivered frozen, and then sent to be composted.

(For the record, in our taste test of herbal teas, lemon water, and Agua Frescas, our Strawberry-Vanilla Agua Fresca made with real vanilla bean was the hands down winner!! Thank you Spoiler Alert.)

We'll put our kids to the FOOD WASTE CHALLENGE for Healthy Kids Day! Come by the East Boston YMCA on April 30 to learn more.