Event Will Demonstrate Ways To Make Normally Discarded Food Delicious

I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. Lots of people make the effort to use leftovers and save excess food because they don't want good food to go to waste. What about the stuff we don't normally think of as good food stems leaves and other bits we routinely throw away at an event this weekend at Liberty Station about 30 chefs will be demonstrating how they make normally discarded food delicious. The event is called Wasted a celebration of sustainable food. And I spoke to one of the chefs taking part in the event. David Waitt executive chef of Rentsch and rodent in Oceanside. David thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Now you're known as a sustainable food advocate. Are most chefs that way or is this new in the world of commercial food prep. I think it's a topic that's come to a head recently. I think chefs have always kind of been that way more so than your average home cook were playing with food. We see the value of food we see the love that people that grow catch and raise food put into it. And we just view all food as a resource. Now the term sustainable food seems to mean different things to different people what does it mean to you. I think true sustainability is always just going to be a goal. Being human isn't super sustainable but it's caring enough to make a difference whenever and wherever you can. Respecting the product respecting where the product came from and the impact that that has on the species the planet. Now how do you limit waste at your restaurant. Renshon RESIDENT We view waste differently to us. It's just an underutilized resource. We try to reimagine as much as possible if there is something not being used to its full potential. We try to figure out how to use it to his full potential. And a lot of cases a lot of this stuff if you look at other cultures or you look to our own past. So you know we kind of take it back and try to find other other ways look to other places for ideas on how to use stuff that is not typically used. But also it's the realization that all those pieces are some of the tastiest pieces there. Now you're one of the chefs who will be competing at making a dish using food that would otherwise be discarded. What will you be thinking at the event for me coming up with an idea. It's a lot easier than narrowing the ideas down because I just want to do it all. And this is the stuff I love. Definitely toying with the idea of making head cheese out of fish. It's all about timing it because there's a lot of tuna boats that are landing in San Diego now. And if it time's right with the event then I know I have access to a bunch of tuna heads which in other cultures you know people will fight for the tuna heads it's just here. It's more that the changing of the perception you know because you can make the stuff taste good. And chefs are really good at that and we're lucky to have a lot of those chefs in San Diego. But it's how do you make it marketable. How do you make it sought after. Yeah I was going to say you know how do you overcome what could be like an x factor of using food that might normally be thrown out. The best way that I've found is to tie it back into some sort of comfort food. So if you take those tuna heads you make Kentucky Fried tuna heads because then you've broken the ice it still might be a little bit of a factor and you have different types of diners. And the issue of food waste is so widespread we need to target all of them. So everybody has a different button you know different. You know there are some people who are just curious and there you know. And honestly ninety nine percent of this stuff once people put it in their mouth and get past that whatever it may be they will ordered a second time because the stuff is good. How do you get home cooks to get started on rethinking waste. I think it's a consciousness. I think it's seeing the value in everything and it's mostly the education you know and showing people how good something can be. And once people notice that you know these are you know every little piece of the plant has flavor. And what we've grown to eat as a culture is more about the distribution game than the food game and that has nothing to do with flavor you know the shiny red apple. I've seen apples that look you know kind of scary. Well those are the best tasting apples in a way it's kind of brainwashing. I mean advertising good advertising kind of is brainwashing and it all kind of ties together. I think having the right information people having an open mind which people have never had as open of a mind to this stuff as they do now. But I think just you know getting their hands on it seeing that it's exciting having enough information to show them that this is a positive thing and then that kind of sparks the curiosity that might you know get people asking questions like What about this part. What about that part. And what if we play with this. So it is a process. But mostly I found that the hardest part of it is just people don't know that that's something that's valuable and education. You know as soon as people know they'll they'll use it. What are some of the other examples of things that can be used and usually discarded. A lot of the brassicas broccoli cauliflower. It's a huge plant. The setting is like four feet in diameter and we take this little knuckle at the top and eat it. So the leaves are insane the stems you can pickle them when the leaves are just an amazing like stir fry vegetable. You can make Kraut out of it like any of the typical or traditional dishes you can sub that in. And a lot of cases it has a higher nutritional value. Banana peels. That's that's a fun one that has kind of an Eyck factor. But the thing with banana peels is as long as you simmer it passed at a low temperature past about you know 30 to 45 minutes. It's a sponge. So it'll take on whatever flavor you want it to be. So at our you know we do a lot of vegan food and we have a vegan concept that we're working on for the next step. So this is like a meat replacement you know and a lot of the meat replacements are just processed soy protein. So if you can take a meat replacement that it's still unprocessed like real food as it comes off the tree or from the ground you know it's always going to be healthier for you and more sustainable better for the environment less energy goes into making it so banana peels are awesome Kale Stems are good. The base of Chard is that it was like the original beet in Europe. They called them CBDs and it's bitter and fibrous. But if you cook it right it's insane. I've been speaking with David White executive chef of Rentsch and rodent in Oceanside. Thank you very much. Thank you. Wasted a celebration of sustainable food is sponsored by chef works and kitchens for good. It takes place this Sunday afternoon at Liberty Station.