The Ball Sate University student paper had a behind-the-scenes look at college cafeteria dishwashing. In addition to making me want French toast sticks, the article provided this insight:Â
Sophomore dishwasher Sara Morand, a chemistry and theater studies major, said students left waste constantly, especially unopened food, which the washers had to throw away.
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Sticking with college cafeterias, Swarthmore College held a “scrape-off” this week to get students thinking about waste and compost the remains. The results aren’t in, but I’m guessing the official count will be in the “lots” range.
Best of all, the school donates unserved food to the CityTeam Ministries’ kitchens in Philadelphia, which serves low-income and homeless people.
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If ignorance is bliss, don’t read this chef’s detailed description of how she handles leftovers from specials. 
On the one hand, I’m glad that chefs repurpose leftovers. It’s the socially responsible and environmental thing to do. On the other hand, do I want to pay full price for it? Maybe restaurants can even call it a green entree and charge more for it. I’m imagining an asterisk noting that ‘This meal contains recycled food products.’
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From unordered entrees to uneaten ones…Here’s an interesting thread on whether chefs are offended when plates come back with plenty left. If you’re short on time, the quick answer is ‘yes.’
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Comments
2 responses to “Friday Buffet”
I want to make clear to you and your readers that the “recycled” soup did NOT come from anyone’s plates. That always gets thrown away in restaurants because of health concerns, and rightly so.
Why would ignorance be bliss when it comes to recycling food left at the end of the night in its holding container in the kitchen that has NEVER BEEN TOUCHED by a customer? Why would that bother anyone?
Do you think that restaurants make everything fresh every day? No? If food has been properly heated, cooled and held at safe temperatures, we keep it until it is no longer safe to keep. That is usually three days maximum, for for acidic foods like salsas or salad dressings, it may be longer.
That is perfectly reasonable, frugal and just.
However, no chef or cook or anyone in their right mind would “recycle” food waste off of a person’s plate. Your statement “ignorance is bliss” is misleading and unjust.
I don’t appreciate it, since the food I was repurposing–which is the proper term for it, which I used in my post–had never been near a customer, and had been properly handled in a safe, clean kitchen setting.
There was nothing wrong or odd about what I did at all. It is what any competent chef who cares about food waste and food cost would do. It is done on a regular basis.
Apologies, Barbara. I didn’t mean to insinuate that you were doing anything unsanitary or risky. When I used the word ‘leftovers,’ I meant the stuff that wasn’t served–not what had been served to customers.
I think we’re both on the same side here and I applaud your making use of all the food. I will say that if I’m eating out, I’d rather have meatballs that hadn’t been cooked previously, strained and reflavored. But I realize that is a part of the restaurant business. Hence the “ignorance is bliss” crack.
Not to say I’d like the unserved stuff to be thrown away. Just that, if given the choice, I’d go with stuff that wasn’t flavored another way. In short, I want it both ways…
Anyway, I appreciate your post, the comment and your repurposing. Sorry for any misunderstanding.