There’s no denying that food waste is a huge problem, both in the U.S. and globally. In the United States, it’s estimated that around 30 to 40% of our food supply ends up in the trash instead of our stomachs. The reasons for this massive waste are varied and complicated; individuals end up trashing a good portion of the food that finds its way into their fridges, grocery stores throw out perfectly acceptable food to make room for new product and some food never even makes it off the farm.
Because of these overlapping causes of food waste, there is no silver bullet for the problem. Rather, smaller solutions may have to be implemented at several points along the food chain to meaningfully reduce the amount of food we waste as a global community. One solution that’s slowly gaining steam is upcycling, or finding ways to use food that would otherwise end up rotting in a landfill. Some companies are finding ways to harness less-than-desirable produce or utilize byproducts from other food processes to create dishes or products that can give new life to food that otherwise would have ended up in that 30 to 40% statistic.
Betty Lu, founder of Singapore-based Confetti Snacks, was frustrated that so much produce was being wasted due to aesthetic reasons (because it doesn’t look good enough to sell in a grocery store) or crop surpluses, so she looked for a way to repurpose that unusable produce to turn it into a shelf-stable snack that would cut down on food waste. “12% of greenhouse emissions come from food waste decomposing in a landfill,” says Lu. “Fresh produce [is] highly perishable, but if we can use [tons] of it and bake them into upcycled crunchy gourmet snacks with a shelf life of 12 months or more, we would inevitably be optimising food security…”
Not only is Lu finding a way to make an enjoyable snack with food that would be otherwise wasted, but she’s also preserving the nutritional value of staples that tend to go bad quickly. “Although these veggies and fruit may come in strange shapes, they are still highly nutritious,” Lu explains. “Rather than throwing them out, we should focus on using these vegetables and fruit and craft them into delicious snacks.” She points out that the veggie-based snacks that Confetti sells are healthier than many of their ultra-processed counterparts.
But upcycling can also happen on a more intimate scale. At Brooklyn Kura, New York State’s first sake brewery, co-founder and president Brian Polen is working with Chef Fred Maurer to utilize kasu, a byproduct of sake production that tastes like sake but has a consistency similar to miso.
Polen says that the use of kasu and other sake byproducts “is as old as sake production itself,” so his team was excited to find ways to work kasu into their menu. “The complexity of its flavor makes it a very unique ingredient to cook with,” Polen explains. “It can be used to add depth to sweet dishes like pastries, chocolates and ice cream or to impart an unexpected earthy, umami element to savory things like sauces, pastas… dressings or soups.”
Previously, Brooklyn Kura partnered with restaurants and organizations like ODO, Rule of Thirds, Blue Hill, NOÉ NO OMISE and miomio to incorporate kasu into their menus and products, but now, they’re highlighting it in recipes in their own taproom. “We worked closely with Chef Fred Maurer to develop our Sake Kasu Donut Holes, and we’re excited to continue experimenting with more dishes and introducing people to kasu as an ingredient.”
Confetti Snacks and Brooklyn Kura are far from the only brands finding creative uses for food that would otherwise be wasted. Matriark Foods is creating pasta sauces, soup bases and more out of upcycled vegetable waste, and organizations like Misfits Market promise to deliver imperfect but perfectly edible produce directly to your door. These solutions may not be perfect, and they’re far from comprehensive. But this kind of creative thinking is essential if we are to move forward to a less-wasteful future.
Samantha Maxwell is a food writer and editor based in Boston. Follow her on Twitter at @samseating.