Large stained glass windows line the great hall of the Samaritan Center on North State Street. Tables are set at all hours of the day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The kitchen staff prepares an evening meal from food donations it received that morning.

About 1.3 billion tons of food are thrown away every year around the world. Local restaurants and food vendors are trying to help shrink that number in central New York and make food consumption more sustainable. Various food vendors give leftovers to organizations including the Samaritan Center, where donations make up 60 percent of the food prepared each day, said kitchen assistant and weekend supervisor Marc Bianchi.

The Samaritan Center accepts donations from several local eateries and food vendors that Bianchi said most guests can’t afford to eat at. Typically, local vendors including Wegmans, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Chipotle, Texas Roadhouse, Otro Cinco, Cafe Kubal, Tops Friendly Market and Glazed & Confused donate throughout the week.

“The food that we donate is food that is consumable,” said Evelyn Carter, director of community relations for Wegmans Food Markets. For example, an apple that has a small bruise on it will be donated because it is still consumable — not marketable, she said. “We don’t donate any expired items, or anything that can cause harm to those consuming.”

New York state regulates what can and cannot be donated. One major concern for donors is safe food handling and liability with prepared foods. Donors are protected from liability if food is donated in good faith under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act.

When it comes to fast food, prepared meats require more consideration for donation. The Chipotle on Erie Boulevard donates two bags of cooked steak a week.

“We like to donate so we don’t waste food,” said Lazaro Miranda, a service manager for Chipotle. “As a company it feels good to support the community.”

When the Chipotle kitchen staff prepares food for a day’s service, a portion of steak is set aside specifically for the Samaritan Center. Other foods like rice can’t be donated after being set out for customers and must be thrown away at the end of the day, Miranda said.

Shuran Huang | Staff Photographer

The Samaritan Center serves 120 people per meal at the beginning of the month, but by the end of the month that number goes up to about 400. Bianchi said this is because guests usually receive federal benefits at the start of each month, but by the third week funds start to run thin and guests are short on resources.

As a chef, Bianchi can’t control what food is donated, but he can control what’s made from it. He combines multiple donated items for cohesive dishes and treats preparing food for the center like a creative project. For example, a dessert Bianchi makes has a base of plain yogurt — which doesn’t have much appeal to guests, he said — and is mixed with powdered cappuccino, crushed brownies and whipped cream on top.

To prevent having leftovers at the Samaritan Center, Bianchi says he watches crowd size and estimates how many people he will need to feed per meal. Restaurants who donate to the center follow a similar rule of thumb.

Otro Cinco chef Clement Coleman said it’s important to create a prep list for recipes in order to manage food volumes and waste. He said that as a business, it’s ethically important to not waste food.

“It would be really good if restaurants, customers and the people involved in food regulation put charitable donation as a part of their planning to normalized the process of donating food to charity,” Coleman said.

And it’s a win to the guests eating the food. Ruben Torres, 32, currently lives at the Syracuse Rescue Mission and walks 15 minutes to get to the Samaritan Center for his meals. Torres, a Bronx native, goes to the center because it provides more than meals — it also has case management services to help guests get out of shelters or buy them kitchen supplies.

“They treat you like a person here,” he said. Torres is currently applying to engineering programs at local colleges.

Food waste in landfills produces at least 3.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent gas, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. “People would be shocked by how much food gets thrown away,” Bianchi said. “For some of our guests, this is the only meal they have the whole day.”

Even though the donation process is highly regulated, the Samaritan Center needs more volunteers to pick up the food from restaurants. Bruce Baehr, 70, is a pastor at Grace Evangelical Covenant Church and volunteers to pick up food from Biscotti Cafe and Provisions Bakery every Friday.

“I see a lot of food thrown away,” Baehr said. “I’m thankful restaurants donate food instead of throwing it away. My impression is it is a win-win.”

Published on April 18, 2018 at 9:32 pm

Contact Myelle: malansat@syr.edu