Gather Culinary Director Tania Marino is pictured with Mary Hudson with the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association. Gather is partnering with businesses and organizations like the fishermen’s association to provide food to the food insecure. Contributed / Korty Church

The Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, Ore Nell’s restaurant and Golden Harvest Produce Market have joined an innovative effort to reduce food waste in the food service industry, repurpose quality ingredients, and prepare meals to feed the community, according to a Gather press release.

Gather, a nonprofit anti-hunger organization, has created Seacoast Waste Not to address food insecurity and provide free food to residents of the seacoast of Maine and New Hampshire. Chefs and food industry leaders who are committed to reducing food waste donate their surplus ingredients to Gather. Gather has created a system of picking up the food from participating caterers, restaurants, cafeterias and food suppliers, to prepare healthy meals available for those in need at Gather’s food pantry in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Seacoast Waste Not not only addresses hunger but also diverts excess food that would otherwise end up in landfills, a major contributor to methane gas emissions.

Mary Hudson, of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association says, “Our association helps lessen the impact of extreme price fluctuations and volatility in the fresh fish market for our members by purchasing fish when the market drops too low. That means there’s often a surplus of fish that’s bought fresh from the boats, then cut and frozen. By donating this fish to Seacoast Waste Not, we are able to increase our reach to communities that need a nutritional source of protein that’s one of the healthiest out there. So this enables us to support the fishing community while also addressing hunger. We are looking forward to seeing some new recipes that incorporate fish that’s less familiar to people: fish like grey sole, white hake, monkfish, and American plaice that are more plentiful than the typical diet of cod and haddock but just as tasty.”

The initiative is already making a big impact. Gather’s Culinary Director Tania Marino, said, “Seacoast Waste Not was launched in May of this year and we have been able to grow our coalition from the founding group of ten members, to 22 in just four months. We have been thrilled with the response from the local food sector – responsible chefs and suppliers don’t want to waste food and have been looking for a safe and sustainable way to donate their surplus. As a result, over 30,000 pounds of food has been diverted into Gather kitchens, which has helped produce 27,000 meals. We are incredibly grateful to our coalition members for sharing our commitment to enacting environmental and social change.”

According to Marino, who is spearheading the program, “It’s estimated that in the U.S., almost 40% of food produced goes to waste and 10% of our households don’t have enough healthy food to eat. The rate is higher for children, 13.5% of New Hampshire children experience food insecurity. In many cases, food thrown into landfills is wholesome and fresh, so this initiative is a win/win.”

Those interested in joining the coalition should fill out an application form on SeacoastWasteNot.org. Marino and her team organize the pickup and create the recipes to repurpose the food into delicious and nutritious meals prepared at Gather’s Cooking 4 Community kitchens. The meals are then packaged for delivery to the Gather food pantry. “Maintaining food safety through all the processes is a priority,” Marino said. She said Seacoast Waste Not accepts a wide array of donations, including perishable and nonperishable foods, fresh or frozen items, single ingredients, or fully prepared offerings. Participants can be any food provider – restaurants, chefs, caterers, farms, country clubs, cafeterias, hotels, food suppliers and food distributors are all participating.

For more information, visit SeacoastWasteNot.org

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