As New York City prepares for mandatory curbside composting, some of the top restaurants are gearing up for the first ever “Make Food, Don’t Waste” Restaurant Week. As of October 6, all residents of Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island will be required by law to compost, separating all food scraps and dirty paper from other trash. The compost will be picked up by the Department of Sewerage on the same day it is recycled.
The first “Make Food, Don’t Waste” event focuses on the commitment of chefs to compost and cook for one week without waste, and it will start today, Monday, September 30. 12 restaurants, many of which have received surprising recognition. , were challenged to create a new dish that embodies the zero-waste principle of this restaurant week.
“We are always thinking of creative ways to reuse ingredients that are often thrown away. For example, with sushi rice we make it fresh every day, any leftover rice cannot be used for Temaki the next day due to texture changes. But instead of wasting it, we mix the rice and fry it to make delicious, delicious rice chips. “Turning it into a new and exciting dish is a great way to give that rice a second life,” says chef Jihan Lee of Nami Nori, an iconic Japanese restaurant with locations in the West Village and Williamsburg.
Some chefs prioritize recycling not only from established dishes, but also simple practical tips for New Yorkers to implement in their kitchens—many of which will be very useful as residents are required to separate all food waste and food-contaminated paper products. from waste and recycling. Lee advises home cooks on meal planning as a basic way to reduce over-buying and make the most of each ingredient. Jeremiah Stone of Bar Contra, a hip Lower East Side cocktail bar, is a big fan of preserving cheese rinds.
“They are fragrant and can be dipped in vegetable soup for extra umami and flavor. One example would be to make a vegetable stock with the ends of the vegetables and the Parmigiano Reggiano rind. Cook it for 40 minutes, and you have a lot of delicious flavor,” Stone told the Observer.
James Beard Award-winning chef Dan Kluger advises the one-pot diet as an easy way to control how many ingredients are used and to have a plan for leftovers, if any. Fidel Caballero of Corima, a new Northern Mexican restaurant in Chinatown, always saves cuts of vegetables and meat bones to make broths and stocks. He also likes to pick vegetables that start to turn, rather than kicking them.
“Making compost will help to avoid waste in garbage and landfills. Instead, it’s turned into compost that improves soil health and supports local gardens,” Kluger, who supports New York City’s compost authority, told the Observer. “It’s an effective step to keep rats out of the trash, and move toward a cleaner, more sustainable city.”
The week-long celebration of carbon footprint reduction is sponsored by The Mill, a food recycling program that breaks down food waste into dry, usable soil. Each participating restaurant received a Mill compost bin to further their no-waste commitment; the brand will also donate $10,000 to the Lower East Side Ecology Center, which organizes community-based sustainability programs and helps New Yorkers with electronic waste and composting.
For all New Yorkers who want to reduce composting by eating out (it’s definitely one way to reduce food waste, as long as you lick your plate clean), here’s a complete list of restaurants and bars participating in “Make Food, Not Waste” Week and delicious dishes for zero-waste will release for the first time in honor of the event:
