From discarded to delicious

The table was set, the delicacies beckoned.

Smoothies whipped up with overripe strawberries. A cobbler confected from aged pineapple, bruised kiwis, and stale birthday cake.

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy couldn't wait to dig in. "It's not often," she said, "that I get to taste the fruits of our labor."

McCarthy was in Philadelphia on Friday to laud a partnership aimed at solving two problems at once: food waste and hunger.

Since last spring, Drexel University Food Lab students have been creating recipes that incorporate foods commonly donated to soup kitchens, where, despite best intentions, they may get thrown out anyway because they are unappetizing.

For example: burned sweet potato pie. Rather than toss it, the students scraped out the innards and concocted a tempting parfait.

"We've been very good at redistributing food to people who need it. But once it gets to the people, it isn't always consumed," said Jonathan Deutsch, director of Drexel's Center for Hospitality and Sports Management and founder of the lab, which develops products and solves real-world problems for industry.

The dishes McCarthy was about to taste were made of discards from a local Brown's ShopRite.

Putting unsalable food to good use has been a tough nut for groceries to crack, said David Deets, the company's director of sustainability.

In 2011, the company joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Food Recovery Challenge, which encourages organizations to donate, recycle or otherwise reduce food waste. Since then, the company has donated 580 tons of food to groups that serve the needy - the equivalent of more than a million meals, Deets said.

Clerks go down the produce aisles with two boxes: one for goods that truly are too far gone, the other for food that can be donated. A lot of it, albeit not perfect to look at, "is perfectly good food," Deets said.

Take brown bananas, which still have plenty of nutrition. Except there are few takers when a soup kitchen puts them out.

"Our mission statement is to bring joy to the lives of those we serve," Deets said. "Throwing brown bananas on the table doesn't really bring joy."

In Drexel's smoothie recipe, the bananas can be irresistible.

The clerks in his urban stores get it; many of them know people who can barely afford to buy food.

On the other side of the equation is Larry Russock, program coordinator at My Brother's House, a South Philadelphia shelter. "We don't have the time or expertise to come up with recipes," he said.

Yet, good food is important. "We treat the whole person . . . they need to feel like they're being taken care of," he said. Serving unappetizing food, never mind the gag reflex, "is not respectful."

Enter Drexel's students, who are experimenting with ShopRite's discards to come up with recipes that are adaptable and that take advantage of common short-lived foods - bruised fruit, wilted greens, stale baked goods.

The goal also is to do it with 95 percent to 100 percent donated ingredients, since soup kitchens rarely have extras like eggs and sugar on hand.

The food lab posts recipes online so emergency providers anywhere can use them. To date, there are two at http://hsm.drexel.edu/du/foodlab/: Canned Spinach Strata and Iceberg Stir Fry.

"We're all passionate about it," said Emily Crasnick, 20, a junior from Langhorne who likes combining creativity with "something that's helping the community."

Ally Zeitz, a 21-year-old senior from Southampton, said she "never really thought of what happens to the ugly fruits."

She was the one who came up with the cobbler recipes. "This was waste," she said of the ingredients. "Then it served a bunch of people."

About 30 percent of food is wasted in the United States, the EPA's McCarthy said.

Pointing to the dishes in front of her, she praised the students, noting that even though something no longer looks pretty, "it is still useful . . . it can be transformed into these beautiful delicacies."

Then she picked up a smoothie and took a sip.

"Oh my God, it's delicious."

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