Making leftovers taste new … and saving the Earth: A Shelter Island Friday Night Dialogue
Did you know that leftovers in your fridge are the single largest source of edible food in the food waste stream?
Every person on Long Island throws away an average of 200 pounds of edible food per year, more than restaurants, cafeterias and hospitals. Want to learn how to use that chicken or pork chop that came home in a doggy bag? Or maybe make a delicious breakfast frittata with last night’s veggies?
On May 17 at 7 p.m., the Shelter Island Library Friday Night Dialogues series will present a highly engaging online Zoom event, “Using Them Up: How the World Makes Leftovers Taste Like New” with New York City-based food waste advocate and culinary historian Jacquelyn Ottman.
This will be an encore Friday Night Dialogues discussion with Ms. Ottman, who first presented “Making the Most of Your Pandemic Cooking” in 2020, where she discussed her book “Connecting from a Quarantine Kitchen: My Shelter Island Pandemic Story.”
Ms. Ottman’s current passion is reducing food waste. On Long Island, residents throw away that estimated 200 pounds of food per person per year, and with landfills at near-capacity, the need for waste reduction of all kinds has become increasingly urgent.
In her presentation, Ms. Ottman will provide new inspiration in the form of beloved dishes that have evolved around the world and through the centuries as perfect and delectable “leftover containers,” such as savory pies and tarts, omelets and frittatas, fried rice, curry, fish cakes and grain bowls.
Reinventing leftovers expands your culinary repertoire, reduces contributions to greenhouse gases and saves you money.
There will be plenty of time for Q&A and lively exchange during Ms. Ottman’s talk. Looking forward to the event, she said, “I’m excited to share this good news with Shelter Islanders, sparking discussion and positive solutions.”
You can register for this online Zoom presentation by calling the library at 631-749-0042, or by visiting shelterislandpubliclibrary.org.
