—Systemic change begins with personal change—
We're sisters Margaret—who goes by Mei—and Irene Li, and we've been running restaurants, writing cookbooks, and working toward a more sustainable food system for the past decade. We co-founded an award-winning food truck and restaurant that's now a dumpling company in Boston, so we're used to dealing with food waste on a large scale.
Our restaurant, Mei Mei, was certified as a sustainable business and recognized for its efforts to cut down on food waste. In the notoriously difficult restaurant industry, successful businesses track their ingredient costs down to the tenth of a percentage point.
If we waste food, we're throwing away money. From cilantro stems in our curry to yellowed collard greens in our pesto, our cooks strategically use every edible part of a plant or an animal. Plus, we work closely with farmers, visiting farms and participating in harvest days. We see the immense love, care, and effort that goes into producing food. No one wants all that hard work to go to waste.
I first read about Margaret and Irene and their book Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach to Home Cooking in an article on doof in the New Yorker. Then the next week the magazine devoted an article just on them and their approach to avoiding wasting food by eating it all. You might say to me---someone who avoids packaged food, in his fifth year on one load of trash, who eats citrus peels, who almost never throws away something edible---their perfect for you. But avoiding waste alone wasn't what made me invite them here. What made me invite them here was their attitude: They're fun! They make enjoying every last bit of food fun. I invited them here because I'm working on changing culture and they belong to the culture I do, which is joy, freedom, fun, and delicious. I don't hear anything from them that's obligation, judgment, telling people what to do, our what I call CCCSC bludgeoning (convincing, cajoling, coercing, seeking compliance). They also win awards and organize community. Listen for the fun and freedom of it. Enjoy never throwing food away again.