Cheftimony Episode 049 – Waste Not
Photo credit: Little John's Kitchen
“The goal for Little John’s isn’t simply to provide meals to people who need them.”
I learned from Chef Dave Heide that forty percent of the food produced in North America is food waste. Edible, nourishing food…wasted. Chef Dave chose to do something about that, and you’re going to hear from him directly today.
Dave is the chef/owner behind Liliana’s and Charlie’s on Main, and most recently he has started Little John’s Kitchen, a non-profit, pay-what-you-can restaurant. The goal for Little John’s isn’t simply to provide meals to people who need them. Little John’s is there to feed everyone. Chef Dave and his team are working against the stigma that food insecurity creates and as you’ll hear today, food insecurity doesn’t really have a face. It affects many people in many different circumstances. Little John’s is there to feed everyone, no matter their ability to pay. Chef Dave’s team does that by rescuing food that would otherwise be wasted and turning it into beautiful, chef-prepared meals.
One of the biggest supporters of this operation is eight-year-old Morgan Marsh-McGlone who created a virtual lemonade (or lemonaid) stand to raise money for Little John’s. Morgan’s lemonaid stand is doing very well indeed, having raised more than $50,000 so far. So great has her work been, Morgan was invited to appear virtually as part of the inauguration celebrations for President Joe Biden.
Chef Dave covers so many important topics today, from challenges facing the hospitality industry, to what consumers can do to improve their own dining experiences, to the problem of greenwashing and how we can all think more critically about our food-buying choices. Plus, Chef gives us all a mini cooking lesson at the end of the show! Join us for a great talk recorded virtually from the west coast of Canada to the US mid-west. Here’s my interview with Chef Dave Heide.