PLANET HEALTH

An ACF healthcare chef offers five ways to reduce food waste

By Amanda Baltazar

Food waste has become a major sustainability issue around the world, with studies showing that a third of all food produced in this country is discarded. It’s such a problem that the United Nations has sanctioned International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, which is on Sept. 29. Here in the U.S., Compass Group is one company taking strides to help raise awareness about the problem of food waste globally, most recently establishing a Global Sustainability Forum to tackle it.

The forum is made up of 18 chefs representing different countries, one of whom is ACF Chef Jeffrey Quasha, CEC, CCA, AAC, director of retail culinary innovation for Morrison Healthcare, a division of the Compass Group.

Chef Quasha meets with his global sustainability team almost weekly, and they regularly host webinars and produce content in the form of inspirational recipes, videos and photos in support of efforts to reduce food waste. “We look at common trends and how can we better align on purchasing, upcycling, preventing waste,” he says.

Here are some of Chef Quasha’s tips to reduce food waste in your operations:

1. Follow the rule of five: No ingredient should be brought through your door without five applications, says Chef Quasha, so everything should be cross-utilized. “If you can't validate five uses of that ingredient, don’t buy it.” For example, if you're buying a lobster, buy the whole thing and it can become an entree (tail), appetizer (claws), bisque (shell), salad (knuckles) and risotto (tomalley). The same goes with vegetables. In Chef Quasha’s view, unprocessed vegetables have even more uses than processed products. Vegetable peelings can go into vegetable stock; cauliflower stalks can be trimmed and julienned, carrot greens make a nice salad. “We have to educate our chefs to buy unprocessed vegetables; every part of the vegetable is 100% edible,” he says.

Compass Group has also put together a cookbook with recipes focused on using vegetable scraps and trim like the outer leaves of Brussels sprouts and cabbage as well as carrot tops or making soup out of leftover mashed potatoes and stock. “Leftovers are now profitable,” he says, “and as chefs we have to be able to forecast production better.”

ACF Chef Jeffrey Quasha, CEC, CCA, AAC, director of retail culinary innovation for Morrison Healthcare, a division of the Compass Group

2. Align yourself with purveyors or suppliers who share in the same sustainability goals. Talk to them about what you can and can't use, he says. This means working with suppliers who ship products in recycled packaging and even ensuring that labels on packaging are recyclable.

Also, consider buying from farms within 150 miles to cut down on the high carbon footprint caused by lengthy transport. “This means menuing with intention, such as not offering tomatoes in December,” Chef Quasha says. Seasonal food tastes better anyway, he adds.

3. Buy “ugly” and local produce. You don't need good-looking vegetables if you're braising or making stock, Chef Quasha points out. Also, inspect everything that comes into your kitchen. “If you’re not popping the box and checking it, there could be waste,” says Chef Quasha. For example, staff members might toss imperfect produce when it could simply be used for soup or purees.

4. Work directly with farmers when possible. There are farmers who plant acreage specifically for Morrison, and in turn, Morrison commits to buying certain volumes of produce. It's a win-win for the contractor and the farmer, and everyone can plan ahead and reduce food waste.

“Some farmers are scared of regenerative agriculture but they're more inclined towards it if they know someone is going to buy it,” Chef Quasha says. “Its a higher cost for them to produce so they want to make sure there's an end game for it.”

5. Educate your customers. It’s important to be flexible, he says, so if clients want something, offer a good alternative. This he says, turns a “no” into education. For example, if someone asks for salmon in the winter, Chef Quasha tells them it has to come from Alaska, and there might be a better local alternative to cut down on the natural resources used for lengthy transport. Sometimes he even takes clients to local farms for a tasting to educate them about what's available and how good it is.

Being a part of a company that’s taking steps to reduce food waste has another advantage other than helping the planet — it can help attract young talent. “The current generation wants to work for a company that is aligned with sustainability and what they believe in,” says Chef Quasha. “Empower the people below you to own that upcycling, then celebrate them, and when it's amazing, menu it."

For more resources on reducing food waste and other sustainable education, visit ACF's Sustainability Corner.

Click here for more stories in the Sept/Oct 2024 issue of National Culinary Review, published by the American Culinary Federation.