Dylan Brogan
Thony Clarke (right) and volunteers add poached eggs to create shakshuka.
Packed restaurants. A bustling food cart scene. Farmers’ markets flourishing across the city. The food economy is fostering entrepreneurship and adding cultural cachet to Madison. But there’s a dirty secret to this abundance of fresh food: A lot of it ends up in the trash.
In Dane County alone, 50 million pounds of food waste goes to landfills each year. Chris Brockel, executive director of Healthy Food for All of Dane County, delivered the alarming news to guests at the nonprofit’s first food recovery dinner held at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center on May 13. About thirty people attended. The group plans on hosting a series of recovery dinners to raise funds for its operations.
“Forty percent of food in the United States never gets eaten. It either gets composted or goes to the Dumpster,” said Brockel, whose comments produced audible gasps from the crowd. “Food waste is a serious issue. It doesn’t matter what your politics are, I think we can all agree we shouldn’t be throwing food away. Nobody wants that. And a good use for that food is to feed people who need to be fed.”
Since late 2014, Healthy Food for All of Dane County has been collecting excess food from farmers, grocery stores, food producers and large employers with cafeterias. A team of volunteers then repackages the perfectly edible food into family-size portions and distributes it to food pantries and other groups that feed the needy. In 2016, the nonprofit saved 67,000 pounds of food from the landfill, 20,000 pounds of which was fresh produce. The group hopes to double that effort this year.
In February, Healthy Food for All became part of the Northside Planning Council which also runs the food incubator FEED Kitchens. Thony “Mango Man” Clarke of the Cafe Costa Rica food cart prepared the nonprofit’s recovery dinner at the Warner Park Community Center.
“The food is very high quality. It tastes great even though we are cooking much of it for the second time,” says Clarke. “Waste is a problem that hasn’t been talked about much but it’s well known in the industry. What [Healthy Food for All] is doing had to be done. They are providing a much needed service.”
Take the cashews served as an appetizer at the dinner. The A.L. Schutzman Company, a Sun Prairie-based food processor, recently donated 8,000 pounds of cashews to the group in large drums. Volunteers at Healthy Food for All bagged the nuts into smaller portions and distributed them to food pantries. Candied pancetta recovered from Metcalfe’s Market was also served with the salad course. Elderberry Farms in Blue Mounds donated the lettuce, spinach and mustard greens.
Healthy Food for All also recovers prepared foods otherwise destined for the dump. The group recently signed on the cafeteria operation at the American Family Insurance campus to start donating its surplus fixings. For nearly two years now, the group has been receiving a glut of soup, baked goods and other meals from Epic Systems. The software company’s swanky cafeteria feeds thousands of employees and is known for serving eclectic dishes.
For the recovery dinner, sauce for shakshuka — a Middle Eastern/African tomato dish — donated by Epic was served. Clarke added the poached eggs (these were fresh) as well as scallions and chives recovered from Elderberry Farms. The country-style whole wheat bread at the dinner also came from Epic.
One of the better volunteer gigs at Healthy Food for All recently was determining the flavors of ice cream made by UW-Madison food science students. The university donated 19, three-gallon drums of the frozen treat — unlabeled — which was scooped into smaller containers and brought to food pantries. For dessert at the dinner, a mocha ice cream with chocolate swirls was served with surplus cinnamon rolls donated by FEED Kitchens’ Baking Program.
The recovery dinners are also a way for Healthy Food for All to showcase its work in the community. In March, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi signed a resolution declaring 2017 the year of “food waste reduction and recovery.” Brockel says now is the time for the community to put its money where its mouth is.
“We have a lot folks say it’s great what we are doing. And it’s wonderful that we are providing a solution to food waste — for free — in the community,” says Brockel. “But if officials and the public think collecting and then distributing healthy food to the community is a valuable service, then somebody should pay something for it. They shouldn’t just expect volunteers to do it. But until then, we’ll keep doing our best.”
