See me change my mind

What I talk about when I talk about rescuing food waste, chicken made from peanuts, and a heme patent war.

You’re out to dinner and there are leftovers to take home. Not a lot, but enough to feel guilty about. What do you do? I cringe. Because I’m a no-leftovers-left-behind kind of girl. I see my future: I ask for a to-go box. My tiny leftovers are tucked into giant containers (always too big), and handed back to me inside a large branded bag. (Sometimes the bag never comes back to me.) Saddened, I shed a few tears for this new waste in my life. And I wonder why, when I go out to dinner, I don’t bring a few containers in my bag?

Food waste. Photo Marco Verch/Flickr

And yet I never seem to learn. Recently, I was at a gathering in New York. The dinner was incredible, full of foods and dishes I seldom order—braised jackfruit in soul sauce, simmered amaranth greens, carmelized sweet plantains. At our table of 8, there was easily food for 12. Sitting across from me at the table was Gaeleen, the US head of impact for Too Good To Go, the food recovery app that I wrote about last July.

Back then, I decided the app was for people with money. My complaint was that it wasn’t accessible enough to large parts of society that didn’t have the means or the know-how. Not everyone has a smart phone. I was judgey without knowing the facts.

Over dinner, I dug into the food, and to the app. I said that a smartphone app takes skill and knowledge to navigate. “How are you helping people that don’t have money, or tech know-how to gain access to her apps daily food rescue?” I asked Gaeleen. Luckily, she didn’t mind being pressed. “Actually, we’re finding that the app is being used by many students on college campuses that are food insecure.” Oh, I said. I hadn’t even thought of that. “But, how do you get the app to those that aren’t young, maybe don’t have cars, and are otherwise held back from knowing about this valuable food?

“It’s an area we need to work on,” she said. I asked for numbers or percentages of people using the app that are food insecure. She said Too Good To Go was a young company (and a B-corp) and didn’t have that kind of information yet, but she promised me it was important. I hope it is because leftovers, food waste, wasted food, lost food, whatever you want to call it, is something that startups with all of their money and innovation should be figuring out and finding a way to stop.

To add to my worry that food waste will continue is the onslaught of quick delivery services, where we can assume that food waste will go up. Too Good To Go has already partnered with Jokr and Gorillas to gather their soon-to-go-bad items. GoPuff, which bought BevMo in 2021, primarily as a location hub, is still figuring their supply out. (Supermarkets have been at this for a decades, and they have waste they can’t redirect.) Farmstead, an online grocer, is trying a different tack. It’s including a call out on its receipts that reads: "Eat This First" to alert customers which foods to consume early to reduce their food waste.

Back at my New York dinner, Gaeleen and I were overwhelmed by how much food we had left. We asked the servers if they could take it home? They shook their heads no. We wondered if any food recovery programs pick it up like Rethink Food or City Harvest. Another no. Gaeleen pushed her chair away from the table and went to investigate. The answer was not great. Once the food hit the table, no one could take it away. It would all be composted. So, we did what we had to do. We asked for to-go containers and divvyed the food up for the entire table. My flight home was the next afternoon, and my leftovers, along with my tiny bottle of white wine, were perfect.

Other tidbits:

1. Chicken made from peanuts? Peanut protein isolate to be exact. Shanghai-based Haofood is launching a peanut-based, plant-based “chicken.” They report that it has great umami flavors. I’m having a hard time imagining it without a nutty taste. (Granted, I love peanuts.) It won’t be in the US anytime soon, but here’s to hoping.

   

   Hao Food “chicken” from peanut protein.

2. The chocolate milk debate heats up in New York with new mayor Eric Adams (who adopted a vegan diet and reversed his Type-2 diabetes diagnosis) attempting to cancel chocolate milk and replace it with more plant-based options. A representative from upstate NY called Adams’ plant-based suggestions “vegan juice.” (Come now.) She claimed the temporary halt on banning chocolate milk was a win for “Upstate New York farmers.”

3. Another food fight! Motif Foodworks, which makes an additive called Hemami, is suing Impossible Foods, maker of heme. (Both are said—by each company— to convey the taste of meat, and also elicit a color change from red to brown.) The dispute? The compounds are too similar and, according to Motif, Impossible shouldn’t be allowed to patent it. Why not you ask? Because “our industry should work together to grow the plant-based category for the greater good — to benefit people and the planet,” says a Motif spokesperson. (I can’t wait to see how this plays out.)

4. Need another reason not to eat fast food? Prices have gone up seven percent in the last 12 months according to the National Restaurant Association (yes, the NRA). The last time prices went this haywire was 40 years ago. One professor interviewed suggested it was because of high gasoline prices.

5. According to Dave Chang, barbecue and sushi restaurants will be the big winners this year. Huh? (And this is the guy that newly invested in Meati, a mycelium protein company.) Other highlights? Restaurants have significantly reduced their menu items to make things simpler for to-go orders and ease of supply chain. (Wise moves.) One way around the menu fatigue however is by running limited time offers (LTO’s), which gets foodie folx excited and coming in the door.

Where you can find me:

1. I appeared on Matt Newberg’s Hngry podcast. Matt writes a weekly newsletter focused on the tech side of hospitality, and sometimes dips his toe into what I write about–-the food we eat. It’s hard to tell which one of us is more passionate (intense?) about the food industry.

2. Here’s a great new Q & A in Food Inspiration, an online magazine for food service professionals.

3. I’m quoted in an article in Bon Appétit titled: “How Healthy Are Fake Meats Like Impossible and Beyond, Really?” Take a wild guess where I net out!

4. On May 10th, I’ll be keynote at the Northern California Institute of Food Technologists (NCIFT) meeting. After the symposium there’s an expo where companies will be sharing their techno solutions (think CES but only food). If you’re a food or science nerd, this is a free event to attend. I’ll be there selling books. Come say hi! 

5. On May 14th, I’m attending the Walnut Creek authors gala. I hope it’s fun! I picked the vegetarian timbale for my meal, which sent me down a mini-rabbit hole to learn what timbale is.