When life gives you taro root tacos, short ribs, parmesan funnel cakes, parsnip agnolotti, spicy gougères topped with black truffle powder, and Oscar-shaped matzo crackers with smoked salmon, you make a statement about food waste.
Or at least that’s what two organizations — Chefs to End Hunger and Copia — did in the aftermath of the Academy Awards Governors Ball, an Oscars after party that left hundreds of pounds of uneaten food to be disposed of.
These organizations are turning the excess and extravagance of the Governors Ball — as well as several other high-profile events, including the Vanity Fair afterparty, Film Independent awards, and Women in Film event — into a social good.
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For the past six years, Salon reports, Chefs to End Hunger has doled out excess food from the after party to Los Angeles area food shelters, such as Midnight Mission and The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
This year, they were joined by Copia, an organization that redistributes leftovers from large food institutions, such as caterers and corporate cafeterias, to communities in need.
Actress and activist Freida Pinto partnered with Copia to fill this need. In an Instagram post, she said that the leftovers that the organization had collected fed 800 people.
Overall, Komal Ahmad — founder and CEO of Copia — wrote in an email to Global Citizen, the organization "recovered thousands of pounds of food feeding over 1100 people."
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Food waste is a major problem in the United States, with an estimated 40% of all food produced going straight into the dumpster.
But Pinto and organizations like Copia are showing that partnerships between celebrities and food waste redistributors can play a real role in minimizing food waste and bringing awareness to this hidden issue.