Nourishing Careers in Flash Food

2008-04-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle in Raleigh, North Carolina, reduces waste from donated perishables through value-added processing and flash freezing, and they do it by providing culinary and managerial training to those working toward a career in the food service industry.

This is how Don Eli, director of food sourcing, describes the program:

The Culinary Job Training Program (CJTP) is an eleven-week culinary program taught by a professional chef, a job placement counselor, and a case manager. The program includes teaching ServSafe® Certification on a manager’s level. ServSafe is a nationally recognized safety and sanitation certification.

The JTP teaches knife skills, equipment identification and use, stocks (white and brown), sauces (veloute, béchamel, espagnole, demi-glace, tomato) soups, baking (quick breads, yeast breads, cookies, cakes, and cake decorating), salads (egg, chicken, pasta), cooking techniques (braise, roast, pan-fry, poach, sauté, steam, stir-fry), standard breading procedure, culinary terminology, egg basics (hollandaise, omelettes, quiche, soufflés, crème brulee) and basic nutrition. The program teaches life skills, employment skills, and stress management, and includes a sexual harassment seminar.

HISTORY OF THE CJTP -- In 1998, we launched our culinary job-training program in the afternoon hours at Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen. We needed to offer cooked food to our agencies that could not utilize the perishable raw products we recovered. At the same time, we wanted to offer people in the soup lines and shelters we served an opportunity to break the cycles of poverty they were experiencing. The goal of the program is to help students obtain meaningful employment in a food service position with a living wage, and thus become self-sufficient, productive members of society.

FOOD SOURCES AND MEAL RECIPIENTS -- Our training kitchen has access to 40,000+ pounds of food from a wide variety of donors weekly. Students learn to convert this food into hundreds of nutritious, well-balanced meals, which are then delivered to local soup kitchens and kid's programs. This donation helps these small non-profits target their limited funds for services rather than food.

Millions of pounds of food are dumped into landfills every year. All of it can be diverted to better use, and through programs like Inter-Faith's CJTP, those uses go far beyond filling bellies. Food diversion can also provide opportunities and fulfill dreams.

BioCycle focus on Carolina food diversion

2007-09-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

Check out CAROLINA COMPOSTING KEEPS FOOD FROM LANDFILLS by FDTF's own Jon Bloom in the August 2007 issue of BioCycle magazine: http://www.jgpress.com/archives/_free/001408.html#more

Hello, FDTF'rs!

2007-05-10T05:54:00.000-07:00

I'm new to blogging, but this looks like fun! Many thanks to Lisa Frase and the CRA for setting this up. Using the blog for group communications will allow us to see and respond to questions, comments, document review, and other little "chores" more efficiently and without over-taxing our in-boxes. It's also a way to share our progress and broaden participation beyond the group gathered around the meeting table, since others working on food diversion can also contribute ideas and solutions.

I've also started a blog called Soil Food to share information specific to the world of compost manufacturing and beneficial reuse in the Carolinas and beyond. If you'd like to be added as a contributor, let me know. Otherwise, check it out and comment often.

Welcome!

2007-05-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the NC Food Diversion Task Force (FDTF) blog.