In an age where the farm-to-table movement has popularized the idea of sustainable, locally sourced food, it’s easy to forget a darker truth lurking behind the scenes: food waste. While upscale restaurants boast about using every part of the vegetable or animal, vast amounts of perfectly good food are being thrown away every day. Meanwhile, hunger and homelessness are on the rise, most visibly in major urban areas. This jarring juxtaposition raises a question: Could excess from the farm-to-table movement and beyond help feed the homeless?This article looks at ways that food from restaurants, grocery stores, and farms can be redirected into the hands of people who need it most. From logistic hurdles and legal barriers to a growing call for reform, an opportunity stands at hand to push the boundaries toward a more sustainable and socially conscious food system.

The Scale of Food Waste: An Invisible Crisis

Food waste is a problem that affects every country. Approximately 40% of all food produced in the United States goes uneaten. This translates to billions of pounds of food discarded every year while millions of Americans, among them homeless people, go hungry. Everything along the food chain is extravagantly wasteful, from…