What Happens To The Abundance of Leftovers From Cooking Shows

Both food consumption and food waste play a role in many popular cooking shows.

Here is the basic formula for popular cooking shows like “MasterChef”. Competitors who are passionate home cooks make a meal from scratch that aligns with the judge's expectations. Several judges taste the competitor's dish for flavor, texture, and finesse. These elements are considered when deciding who stays and who leaves the competition. But what happens to the food after the final taste test?

Food Network's solution to finding a purpose for food that would otherwise get thrown out is a program called The Wasted Lunch. Purchasing and events coordinator, Amanda Catrina understands how impactful repurposing food can be. Her role at Food Network provides insight into their approach to reusing food. "It means that it was originally purchased for another intention — either a project, or a testing, or a shoot, and it didn't end up getting used in its entirety. So we make it into a gourmet meal instead of composting or throwing it away" Amanda Catrina said in an interview featured on Food Network’s YouTube Channel. By recycling ingredients to serve to Food Network employees, excessive food waste is avoided.

Photo by Urban Gyllström on Unsplash

However, not all shows share the same sentiment towards sustainability. According to The Guardian, there is a negative relationship between harmful practices in food media and the environment, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

Chef Priyanka Naik, reveals that food waste is inevitable on television.

"Plus, judges on cooking competition shows often only eat a few bites of each dish, since they may be required to taste upwards of 12 dishes a day. And programs such as Five Star Chef or the Great British Baking Show include challenges that require contestants to make large quantities of food to prove their skill prepping dishes at scale. While leftover food from cooking shows can often be given to the rest of the crew to eat, hygiene protocols don’t always allow that when a judge or cook has already eaten some, or when dishes have been sitting out too long during filming. Covid has heightened those precautions,” said Naik.

The purpose of buying ingredients is not always instructive or for the sake of judging a contestant's dish. Sometimes, ingredients are in the kitchen for aesthetics or mistakes made during preparation. Burnt meat or improperly cooked meals require the use of backup ingredients. But these ingredients may go to waste if everything runs smoothly.

Cooking shows are not the only shows contributing to the problem. Food stylist Aubrey Nueman, states that beautifully styled food is a significant component of scripted television. "We had to do these big seafood towers with thousands of dollars worth of lobster, spot prawn," says Nueman on the "Aubrey Nueman & The Pros and Cons Of Food Styling" episode of the Kitchen Tape Podcast. "It's part of the food waste." According to Nueman, food safety risks are deciding factors for throwing out food.

Aside from the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 when sharing food — meat, seafood, and dairy reach the danger zone after sitting at room temperature for too long.

Unlike other TV networks in food media, blogger and cookbook author Anne-Marie Bonneau, continues to apply an innovative approach to incorporating sustainability into cooking. Her efforts towards minimizing waste include storing food inside of glass containers instead of plastic and using leftover vegetables and lentils for soup. "Jars are great, they cut a lot of plastic waste. They also help reduce wasted food," said Bonneau during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "Worldwide, a third of the food we produce goes uneaten. So, this is great for reducing food waste".

An alternative to throwing out large quantities of food on cooking shows is to freeze and ferment excess food. Bonneau says she uses glass jars to freeze and ferment things like peppers. Improper storage is another issue that adds to food waste. "There's no downside to reducing food waste," says Bonneau, "the average family of four in the US throws out around $1,600 worth of food every year." Bonneau and companies like Food Network are continuing to reduce waste and reuse food to create a more sustainable environment.

Eliminating all forms of waste is impossible. However, taking steps towards minimizing how much food is thrown away by freezing, donating, or repurposing food can make a difference. If food media companies develop a sustainability department, there will be a positive impact on the environment and the food media industry.