Food Donations
Philabundance is Philadelphia and Delaware Valleys largest food bank. At Penn we partner with them to pick up on weekly basis as well as on demand through Food Connect App for our catering and Pret locations. (See below for statistics on Philabundance Food Donations).
Stem-to-Root
Stem-to-root cooking is a staple when it comes to preventing food waste, and we strive to use every part and piece of produce in our cafes, every day. Plus, creative stem-to-root produce preparations can add interesting flavors and textures (and nutrients!) to guests’ plates.
Batch Cooking
Flavors are developed through skilled healthy cooking techniques, with the use of fresh herbs and authentic spices, not through unhealthy shortcuts of using fat, sugar, and salt. Vegetables are prepared in small batches as close to serving time as possible.
Imperfectly Delicious
Cosmetically perfect produce is not always essential for food service operations: our chefs slice and dice the produce so flavor (not appearance) is most important. Through the IDP program we engage our distributors, farmers, and chefs to identify opportunities to rescue produce from going to waste. It is important to note that this is not produce that is going bad or severely damaged, it is quality product that is going to waste because of stringent cosmetic standards that have nothing to do with flavor or food safety.
Biotech Food Digester
Outside Hill Dining Cafe, Penn Dining installed a Bio-tech Food Digester which converts solid food waste to liquid diverting it from landfills.
Philabundance Food Donations
Below you will find in pounds the food donations made to Philabundance per semester.
Fall 2021 (August & September): 3760lbs
Spring 2021: 4051lbs
Fall 2020: 1504lbs
Spring 2020: 2273lbs
Fall 2019: 3225lbs
Spring 2019: 3934lbs