Partnerships for food waste reduction can create new opportunities and contribute to sustainable local development, says FAO

“There is an increasing pressure to produce more food to feed growing and urbanizing populations. But as we produce more, we also wasting more,” said Carla Mucavi, Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the United Nations, at the event on “Waste not: conversations with chefs and policy makers” on 5 October in New York.

Jointly organized by UN-Habitat and the James Beard Foundation at the occasion of World Habitat Day, the event sought to discuss ways to rethink urban food systems for overcoming urban inequalities and reducing waste, while also sharing a wide range of initiatives that are bringing together the private sector, local governments and civil society.

Mucavi noted the urgency of reducing food waste against a troubling global landscape in which 1 in every 9 persons are hungry in the world and 1 in every 8 adults is obese.

“Food waste is, by definition, unethical, when billions of people suffer from hunger and other forms malnutrition,” Mucavi said.

Christopher Williams, Director of UN-Habitat New York Office, delivered the opening remarks in which he noted that the issue of food waste encompasses three main topics: rural-urban linkages in the international discourse, poverty and waste management. He noted that “Third World” was a condition and not a place and that poverty also existed in developed contexts.

Alison Tozzi Liu, Vice President of Marketing at the James Beard Foundation, moderated the event and informed that food waste is one area in which chefs and culinary leaders have a huge opportunity to influence the system.

Tracy Chang, Chef and Owner of Pagu, emphasized the value of collaboration and scaling-up for lasting impact, noting that having a restaurant is an opportunity to collaborate with everyone who comes through the door.

Rositsa Ilieva, Director of Food Policy Monitor at the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, noted that a key question to consider as policy initiatives scale up and become normalized is how to make sure the connection between food waste reduction and other sustainability goals is not forgotten.

Ana Caballero, Purchasing Manager of Fork and High Street on Market, shared sustainable practices that could be adapted in daily restaurant operations, such as recycling cooking oil and installing a bio-digester to liquify food scraps.

Ian A. Marvy, Urban Outreach and Program Access Specialist at the United States Department of Agriculture, suggested that urban agriculture was a pathway for youth to become social entrepreneurs. He noted that some teens were contributing 10 per cent of the annual income of poor families by engaging in the sector through community-based activities.

Sarah Munger, Assistant Executive Director of Rethink Food, explained that the non-profit organization she represented contributed to reduce food waste and food insecurity by rescuing excess food from restaurants and farms to feed people in need in local community centres. She stressed the importance of addressing liability concerns and explained measures taken to ensure the safety of the food being served.

The event was part of UN-Habitat’s Urban October and coincided with the launch of the James Beard Foundation’s Waste Not initiative.