Rethinking Food: Brooklyn Kitchen Makes Meals Out Of Restaurant Leftovers
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - At a kitchen in Brooklyn, food is never wasted. After all, all of it comes from leftovers.
The non-profit is bridging the gap between food excess and food insecurity.
The kitchen crew is always hard at work at Manhattan's "Made Nice."
"We do about 700-800 customers a day," said Executive Chef Daniel Distefano.
Even with all that demand, there tends to be excess food leftover at the end of the night that no one bought: Usually about 10 pounds.
"Goal for us is to cook in small batches as much as possible, as often as possible. We do that so we are left with the least amount of food left over," Distefano said.
Instead of throwing it away, the food is donated to the non-profit "Rethink Food NYC" and repurposed inside their kitchen for others to eat. Nearly 10,000 of food a month is going right to the city's underserved communities, and dished out in places like soup kitchens.
"There is enough food out there for everyone and every New Yorker to go to bed full," said Rethink Food NYC founder Matt Jozwiak.
The Brooklyn organization has only been operational for five months, but already picks up leftover food from more than a dozen area businesses and restaurants. The founder promises the food never left the kitchen and is never returned from customers.
"It's all about excess. Plate waste is something that can never be collected," Jozwiak said.
Since they never really know what they're going to get, Rethink's kitchen staff has to constantly get creative while also trying to cook something healthy.
"A lot of times, it's all about feeding calories and here we focus on not just giving them something to eat, but nutrition," said Rethink Kitchen sous chef Felix Martinez.
Even the seeds are used for something.
Rethink NYC has many chefs rethinking their kitchens.
