While leftover food typically gets thrown out, there is a group that makes sure that leftover food is turned into meals. Make Food Not Waste is a group whose mission is to keep food out of landfills, upcycling those foods into meals for the community. Shanel DeWalt, culinary director of Make Food Not Waste, and Ederique Goudia with Make Food Not Waste appeared on “Live in The D” to talk about their mission.
This weekend the organization has an event which is a community feast at the Southfield Pavilion from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. “We’ll have cooking demos, activities, it’s family friendly. We’ll also have dishes that local chefs have created from food that would have ended up in a landfill otherwise,” said Goudia.
The organization has some recipes that include ingredients of food that often goes to waste. One of them includes pierogi scraps, from Pierogi Dough, which can be used to make dumplings for stews and soups, and even crackers. Another item they showcased is a strawberry vinegar, which was made from over ripened strawberries where the tops were used to make into a vinegar.
Chef Shanel also had a recent appearance of Food Network’s “Copped”. On the show, she was given ingredients that are usually thrown away to make into something new. “It was kind of easy to do because we do this on a weekly basis,” she said.
Every week, Make Food Not Waster is given donated food from different organizations, grocery stores, farmer’s markets, distributers and others, and the organization then makes meals for the community.
To learn more about Make Food Not Waste, watch the video above.