The Kitchen that Paved the Way for Job Training and Food Waste Reduction

Prior to its closure, LA Kitchen received daily truck loads of food rejected by grocery stores due to cosmetic defects or overstock. The organization, founded by Robert Egger, would prepare that food into meals for communities in need. In addition to guiding volunteers, the employees cooking those meals would train men and women who were formerly incarcerated, homeless or aging out of foster care to prepare them for jobs in the food industry. Egger's goal was for society to reconsider how we think about discarded food and marginalized people in a food waste recovery system that doubled as a workforce development program. Roy reflects on what led to the shutdown the organization on October 30, 2018.