Ugly Fruit: An Effort to Combat Food Waste

A fairly common scene: grocery and food market patrons judiciously select their produce from pristine displays. And what happens to the fruit that isn’t selected? The produce with a slight blemish or a unique shape. More often than not, it ends up as food waste in a landfill, which is both harmful to the environment and wasteful. 

One effort to combat this? Beer. 

Atlas Brew Works of DC has partnered with Food Rescue US-DC to brew a beer using rescued stone fruit from different markets. Daniel Vilarrubi, Director of Brewing Operations joins the show to describe the process. He also talks about partnering with RavenHook Bakehouse to use their leftover bread in brews. 

Colleen Gillespie also returns to the show as she is now the Site Coordinator for Food Rescue US-DC. She describes different ways markets, restaurants, hotels, and other food production sites can help combat food waste.  An ongoing conversation on this show is how breweries are stewards of the community, and this is a prime example. 

Shoutouts: Food Rescue US-DC, Atlas Brew Works (soon-to-be) NEW location at Carlyle Crossing in Alexandria, VA, Andy’s Pizza, RavenHook Bakehouse, Silent Neighbor Export Stout winning GOLD at the 2023 World Beer Cup!