Two years ago we met a sweet potato farmer while on our annual Employee Farm Tour. Standing there in his curing warehouse, we asked about a large wooden bin in the corner, full of small sweet potatoes. By large bin, I mean giant, as in a fork lift would have to heave this pallet the size of a small car. Thats when I learned about cull sweet potatoes and their predetermined destiny to compost or to landfill. They seemed perfectly fine, just small. Turns out they are perfectly fine to eat but no one wants them. I felt foolish asking about options like homeless shelters or baby food as if he never thought of these outlets. Of course they had, but the answer was still no. 

 As it turns out over a billion pounds of food is just wasted in the trash every year. How can this be when so many people go hungry? We wanted to do something and so the Durham Unwanted Food Festival was born. DUFFest is just the beginning of making people aware. A tomato with a small crack is still delicious. A non-sexy cut of meat shouldn’t just become trash. Let’s take a stand and start to utilize unwanted, undesirable, unattractive, but perfectly delicious food. Join us at our next DUFFest in August 2020.

This event is sponsored by Bull City Burger and Brewery, Pompieri Pizza, Firsthand Foods, and Hungry Harvest.