Forty percent of food produced in the U.S. is never eaten, and 95% of that food ends up in a landfill. Mayor Megan Barry has called on Nashville chefs to lead the country in changing that number.
"Our local restaurants have helped put Nashville dining on the map, to where we’re now recognized nationwide as a culinary destination city. But we know that too much of that good food is going to waste—and good money along with it,” said Mayor Megan Barry, in a statement. “Nashville’s restaurants have the creative ingenuity to demonstrate to the rest of the country how to keep more of our world-class dishes on people’s plates and out of the landfill.”
On Monday, Mayor Barry issued her Food Saver Challenge to nearly two dozen restaurant owners and chefs as part of a James Beard Foundation Chef Advocacy Training workshop.
"When you talk about food in a sustainable manner, you have to talk about growth, to production, to distribution, to waste or disposal," said Jeremy Barlow, who owns Sloco, a sandwich shop in 12 South. "We’re really focused on basically a zero waste program."
Barlow said reducing food waste doesn't have to be complicated or high tech. At Sloco, he uses three black bins - for garbage, compost, and recycling - to cut back on what goes in a landfill.
"We occasionally have to re-sort after the customers at the end of the day, but the only thing we throw away in here is chip bags," Barlow said.
Barry's Food Saver Challenge called on restaurants to track food waste, create a plan to reduce waste, and then track those results over three months.
