In the U.S., 40 percent of the food produced goes uneaten and is sent to the landfill, yet the majority of this food is still good for consumption — a fact to which Project Green Fork (PGF), an offshoot of Clean Memphis, wants to brings awareness, especially with their upcoming Reharvest Memphis.
At the event, says program director Leann Edwards, local PGF-certified chefs will prepare hors d’oeuvres using surplus ingredients rescued from the Mid-South Food Bank and Cordelia’s Market. The chefs, whose PGF certification dictates that they have taken measures to practice sustainability in their restaurants, will be Don Gaines and Stephanie Blanda of LuLu’s Cafe & Bakery, Sarah Cai and Arturo Leighton of Good Fortune Co., Daishu McGriff from Shroomlicious Meals, Becky Githinji and Shane Wigginton from Tamboli’s, and David Self from Paper Plate Pavilion. “It’s important to support these restaurants who are taking sustainability measures,” says Edwards.
Prior to visiting the food bank and Cordelia’s on the Tuesday and Wednesday before the event, the chefs won’t know what ingredients they’re working with, which means they won’t know what dishes they’ll create. “That’s part of the fun of it,” Edwards says. “It turns into a really exciting, creative process for them as well. … [Last year at my first Reharvest] I was very excited by how excited they were — just the fun of chopping these ingredients and watching their wheels turn and figure out how they could use them in really creative ways. And people made desserts, savory dishes, and even though they had the same sort of components to shop from, everyone created something very different in their own wheelhouse.”
In addition to sampling the top-notch restaurant fare, attendees will be able to mingle with the chefs, ask questions about their dishes, and hopefully learn tips on how to utilize ingredients that might go otherwise to waste. “That’s really our intention — to rethink food waste in a way that’s delicious and sustainable,” Edwards says. “There’s sometimes a stigma around surplus food that might be appropriate for donation. And we really just want to show people through these creative chefs that surplus food can be super delicious and creatively used and nourishing and wholesome at the same time.”
This year’s Reharvest Memphis also happens to coincide with PGF’s Downtown leg of the new 901 Save the Food Challenge: Restaurant Edition, which has been working with restaurants neighborhood by neighborhood to reduce food waste. The event, Edwards says, showcases the impacts that initiatives like the 901 Save the Food Challenge and just minimizing food waste in general can make in the culinary landscape.
Tickets for Reharvest Memphis can be purchased at tinyurl.com/5n8542jm. Tickets include complimentary wine, beer, a signature cocktail, and a mocktail.
Reharvest Memphis, Beale Street Landing, 251 Riverside Drive, Thursday, November 16, 5:30-8:30 p.m., $75, 21+.
