One by one the students at George Fox University pile into the dining hall, referred to as “The Bon,” and they eagerly wait to be served. Their stomachs are growling and they need food now.
Students trickle into different lines and begin to pile their plates high with piping hot food. Then, after they finish eating, they slide their plates with leftover scraps onto moving belts where the workers will scrub and toss. Out the students go.
Have you ever wondered what happens after the students leave? Some days there is plenty of leftover, uneaten, perfectly acceptable food sadly left behind. Where does this food go?
Living in a state that claims to be so environmentally cautious, I thought it would be interesting to find this out.
Talking to Denny Lawrence, manager of Bon Appetit services on campus, revealed many things about their process when dealing with food waste. They currently serve approximately 3,000 meals per day to students of George Fox.
When asked how the Bon helps to reduce food waste, Lawrence says that they “try to produce only as much food as [they] need for the meal periods but there are times that [they] do have leftovers.”
The Bon does various things to try and reduce the food waste at the end of the day. They anticipate the amount of food they need for each meal and also try to incorporate leftover ingredients into other menus.
Lawrence gives me an example: “We might remove the meat from leftover baked chicken and use it in a chicken stir-fry or make chicken noodle soup.”
Sophomore Sabra Chambers, a server at the Bon, says they instruct her to serve certain portions in hopes of reducing waste. “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach,” she chuckles to herself.
“It’s better to give out smaller portions to begin with. Most students will finish the smaller portion and sometimes go back for more whereas if we give them huge portions they will most likely not finish it, and it will go to waste,” she says.
Sophomores Holly Gombossy and Lauren Meadows both have similar reactions when exposed to the Bon’s process of reducing waste.
“I think it’s great that they are able to be resourceful in that way. However, it’s still important to me that they make sure the food is reusable in the first place,” Gombossy says.
Meadows also has her hesitations. “The way they reuse certain parts of the meals sounded a little off-putting at first but, in reality, it is good that they’re not letting all of the food go to waste,” she says.
Lawrence says that students also take part in helping reduce food waste. “For the past fifteen years, we have worked with student groups who would come every Friday evening and take some of our leftover food to both Portland and Salem to help feed several hundred homeless people on a weekly basis.”
This program was unfortunately discontinued, but they still encourage students to offer assistance if they so desire. “We would be very open to starting it back up again or doing something similar if students were to show interest,” says Lawrence.
The Bon does many things to stay on top of reducing food waste. They keep food records, specifically plan meals, and portion the food in order to use the most of what they have.
However, it is a two way street. Next time students walk into the Bon, they should also be mindful of ways they can help prevent waste... just food for thought.
