While living in NYC, one of my mentors (Chef Rich) challenged me to embrace every opportunity and dive deep into the world of food and cooking. From that moment, I said 'YES' to everything—volunteering at catering events, assisting with my school's Friday Night Dinners. Every single weekend, I found myself in a kitchen.
Then, came Salvage Supperclub.
Rescuing…vegetables?
During this era of my NYC life, one of my most memorable experiences was volunteering for a food waste initiative created by a talented designer, social innovator and all-around great human, Josh Treuhaft. We curated what was then considered unusual food experiences, collaborating with farmers, food-coops and businesses in the food supply chain to recover surplus, or imperfect produce, as well as edible weeds uncommonly used parts of food from farms (think leaves and stalks), perfectly edible food past before dates from grocers, day old bread from bakeries and feeding people….in a retrofitted dumpster.
Bold and daring for its time, as many Chefs and food businesses were wary of how consumers might perceive food waste, even when it was perfectly safe to eat. I approached several chefs at restaurants where I had staged, as I knew exactly what kitchen scraps and trim would be discarded or composted, yet still had potential. The chefs were incredibly supportive, sharing how they thought the concept was awesome!
However, we were surprisingly met with a bit of resistance as their responses often echoed a common concern:
“Celia, you know you have my support, but marketing doesn’t think it’s a good idea as guests might perceive us (our brand) as wasteful, or worse, someone could get sick and blame us.”
What they didn’t realize is that people are often receptive to change when they’re not judged, but rather invited to be part of the conversation. In fact, the restaurants and food businesses that participated were recognized by their respective communities for demonstrating leadership, through their willingness to be part of the solution.
Back then, and even today - the importance of transparency is undervalued.
During this time I visited my first farm, opening my eyes to the true meaning of sustainability and why the origin story of our food matters.
Where it comes from.
How it's made.
How it arrived to our plate.
Salvage Supperclub inspired diners to rethink the potential of their food.
What began as novel 'dumpster dinners' in the streets of Brooklyn would spread across major cities in the US with talented, sustainably-minded guest chefs. Salvage Supperclub began to find it’s way into other unique venues, from a pop-up art gallery in Manhattan, a community space in Vancouver, a temple in Kyoto, a farm and natural sake brewery in Chiba, Japan and a culinary school in a squid fishing village in Thailand. We began getting calls to feature the retrofitted dumpster and the unique experiences in conferences, and even collaborated with Glad on a food waste event in L.A., hosted by Ayesha Curry!
Surreal, to say the least!
Around the world, people welcomed us as our events brought farmers, consumers, chefs, and communities together, sparking much needed conversations about the gaps in our food system and how we can collectively create change.
Through Salvage Supperclub, I discovered the potential in our food and how we can make simple changes, but also the magic that happens when we believe in ourself.