Chefs Who Hate Wasting Food Tell All in The Expendable Edibles Blog

Jan. 10, 2011 - PRLog -- The newly launched Expendable Edibles Blog is rapidly becoming a niche destination for those who despise food waste and praise the rescuing of “perfectly good food that just isn’t perfect anymore” which are still full of taste, texture and nutrition.

Foodie bloggers are embracing the Expendable Edibles vocabulary because it dignifies the “use it and lose it” philosophy professional chefs have practiced for centuries. Chefs recently debriefed by Expendable Edibles include:
• Cathy Erway of Not Eating Out in New York
• Brook Hurst Stephens of Learn To Preserve

Journalists, authors and “sustainability activists” focused on curbing food waste are also championing the Expendable Edibles cause. These include:
• Jonathan Bloom, author of “American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half Its Food”, WastedFood.com
• Bill Daley, food and wine critic, The Chicago Tribune  
• Richard Kamins, Connecticut Food & Wine, WMRD Radio

Restaurant, catering and culinary school chefs are referencing Expendable Edibles as an idea stimulator to see how other chefs are re-thinking their own food-use strategies. In a recent interview with Nancy Gershman (Expendable Edibles’ food philosopher), Executive Chef Jenny Glasgow of Olivier Cheng Catering & Events extolled her pastry chef for being “brought up the way you’re supposed to work -- nothing goes to waste … not a seed, not a peel, not a bone, not a crumb.” (Read it at http://www.expendableedibles.com/blog/?p=173).    

By week’s end in January, new visitors to Expendable Edibles.com and The Expendable Edibles Blog  [http://www.ExpendableEdibles.com/blog] increased by 73%, supporting research that no other resource exists - on the web or in print - offering such a vast array of gourmet fixes for perishable, undervalued and underappreciated foods. The recipe solutions found on ExpendableEdibles.com are not only created by founders Marlene Samuels and Nancy Gershman but they are also compiled from chefs from around the world, fulfilling the goal of a genuine community cookbook. The six categories of expendable edibles include:

Stems, Skins and Stalks - the trimmings from fresh produce
Past-Peak - overripe or slightly dehydrated produce, tired herbs, wine and breadstuffs that are a few days old
Once-Cooked - previously prepared and already cooked foods with a limited window of opportunity
Negligible Quantities - not enough for a dish, or a libation’s last drop
Nearly Expired - preserved foods, opened and refrigerated with a nearing end date
Ill-Fated Creations - prepared foods bruised or damaged, crumbling or crushed by less than ideal conditions

Other unique features:
• Request a Recipe button [http://www.expendableedibles.com/pages/request-a-recipe.php]: visitors submit the “odds and ends” in their fridge, freezer and pantry in exchange for a gourmet recipe (A recent challenge was “leftover carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and ham.” In 24 hours, food expert Samuels delivered two recipe options: a hot & sour soup and an Italian-style vegetable soup.)
• “Complexity Level” scores provided for every recipe: “Level 1 = your 8 year old can do it,” “Level 2 = a little clock watching required” and finally, “Level 3 =extra steps for a showstopper”
• Ingredient-based search box: pulls up every recipe with the ingredient, including a concise description
• Recipes with a relaxed approach towards quantity and substitutions: to help newbie chefs unglue themselves from their recipe cards


About Nancy Gershman:
As a cure for wanton waste and her own Persistent Culinary Repeataphobia (fear of routine meal planning), Nancy Gershman came up with the philosophy of “expendable edibles.” Her motto: “Less time in the kitchen, more around the table.” Nancy Gershman is a digital artist and founder of Art For Your Sake (www.ArtForYourSake.com), a studio specializing in custom-created celebratory and prescriptive photomontages, designed to counter loss and regrets through meaning-making.

About Marlene Samuels:
Having completed accelerated culinary courses at the Escoffier Cooking School in Paris, Marlene Samuels (the site’s premier food expert) is a writer, sociologist, lecturer and instructor. She’s published several books - one academic, another non-fiction - and numerous articles. Marlene’s own cooking mantra grew out of her fearless experimentation: “See what it could be, not what it is.” Read more about Marlene at www.marlenesamuels.com.

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About Expendable Edibles:
The brain-child of home chefs Nancy Gershman and Marlene Samuels, The Expendable Edibles recipe database (ExpendableEdibles.com) was created in 2002 as a community cookbook for foodies and chefs around the world, dedicated to curbing food waste with delicious creativity.