Sustainability dinner is Oct. 28 at Chuck Hafner’s

By Ashley M. Casey

Associate Editor

Parents throughout the ages have admonished their children about cleaning their plates. Now, science from the United States Department of Agriculture backs them up. According to the USDA, between 30% and 40% of the food produced in this country goes to waste, while one in eight New Yorkers faces food insecurity.

In order to spread the word about food waste, Syracuse University’s Center for Sustainable Community Solutions is partnering with “eat local” advocates LoFo and Farm to Fork 101 to host a dinner Oct. 28 at Chuck Hafner’s Farmers Market and Garden Center in North Syracuse. The zero-waste dinner — served on reusable tableware — uses gleaned produce from local farms.

“Even though this is probably not the prettiest-looking produce … we wanted to convey the value of that food still,” said Jesse Kerns, program coordinator with SU-CSCS.

SU-CSCS is funded by grants from the USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Half of our team works on water-related resources — stormwater, drinking water — and my team works on material sustainability,” Kerns said. “[We] take what we previously thought was waste and find a new use for it.”

Using a grant from the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute, SU-CSCS decided to create an event to draw attention to the issue of wasted food. Kerns said much of the center’s outreach is conducted via social media, but a community dinner provides the opportunity for “more meaningful interactions with 50 to 100 people.”

Area chefs will create a five-course meal with locally sourced produce.

“Each chef has partnered up with a different local farm. The chef and/or the farmer will be able to talk about how they made the dish,” Kerns said.

The chefs will “draw attention to the less-used parts of produce,” Kerns said. For example, carrot tops can be used in place of parsley or to make chimichurri or pesto.

The dinner will feature a short talk about ways people can reduce food waste in their own homes. In-depth information will be available at each table.

“We’ll give them a quick primer at the beginning of the night,” Kerns said.

Kerns said about 40% of food waste occurs in the home.

“That’s not just a nutritional loss. That’s all that agricultural land, water, pesticides — all that is lost when we throw food away,” he said.

One chef is an employee of the Food Bank of Central New York and will highlight the importance of the Food Bank and other local food pantries.

“We have so much produce and we’re throwing a ton of it away, but food insecurity is such a big problem locally,” Kerns said

Kerns said the dinner is a zero-waste event.

“We’re planning not to have any trash cans whatsoever. We’re going to encourage attendees to bring a reusable container [for leftovers],” he said. “Any plate scraps will be composted and won’t be sent to the incinerator.”

Loving Local, Wasting Less: A Zero Waste Community Dinner takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, at Chuck Hafner’s Farmers Market and Garden Center, located at 7265 Buckley Road in North Syracuse. Tickets are $40 per person and are available at farmtofork101.com/dinners.