Food Shift, a Project of Earth Island InstituteFood Shift, a Project of Earth Island Institute“In overlooked food with imperfections, we see the power to nourish.
In overlooked neighbors who face employment discrimination, we see talent and wisdom.
While we understand the deficits in our community, we choose to see and amplify the assets.”
— Yuka Nagashima, Food Shift Executive Director
More than just a food recovery or food assistance organization, Food Shift addresses the dynamic intersection of food and climate justice. We strive to create a more inclusive and planet-friendly environment through food. At our core is our neighbors overcoming job discrimination, lending their skills from our culinary training program to rescue food that would otherwise go to waste, and to curate and redistribute culturally appropriate foods to our community partners to nourish our neighbors in need. Food Shift’s social enterprise kitchen apprentices handcraft upcycled food products to help reduce food waste, while generating income to underwrite our community services and create jobs
Learn more about Operation Together, Food Shift’s COVID 19 response, fueling 15+ community partners with their food assistance programs with more than 200 tons of recovered food, curated and distributed to nourish over 13,000 of our neighbors striving to overcome food insecurity.
Our first-hand experience informs our consulting practices in justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI), to help others develop and implement practical strategies to nurture a regenerative environment.
An example of our advocacy and community education to reduce food waste is our Seasonal Kitchen Guide, created in partnership with StopWaste. It fills the gap left by cookbooks and climate action narratives that don’t necessarily speak to everyone. The Guide provides templates that can be used to cook from whatever they might have in their refrigerators, featuring seasonal produce that is both widely available (from food banks and food pantries), using easy techniques that don’t require specialized equipment or ingredients. It also includes storage tips and how to use the whole produce (from roots to shoots!) to prevent food waste in our homes, a significant source of greenhouse gas emission.
Despite the abundance of food and wealth in the Bay Area, 1 in 4 people in San Francisco are food insecure, many of them seniors and children. The dichotomy of hunger in modern cities juxtaposed with a world of surplus food and 35% of all food in the US being wasted requires innovative thinking to move beyond the traditional models of food recovery and charity.
As a top environmental polluter, food waste ranks among the top 3 solutions in addressing climate change. Surprised? The 35% of food waste also ties up about 20% of water, fertilizers, pesticides, and landfill space, not to mention labor and fuel.
From farms to our own kitchens, food waste happens throughout the supply chain. At the household level, food waste has a price tag of $1600 per year for a household of 4, affecting our financial well-being as well as the environment.
It is easier to simply focus on food assistance or food recovery, but recognizing that the root cause of hunger is not the lack of food in this country, but rather, the lack of financial security, our social enterprise kitchen to create jobs is at the core of our programs.
Food Shift discovers, demonstrates and shares creative and sustainable community approaches to achieve both food and climate justice.
Food Shift is… For the people… By the people… With the people
Justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) is at the foundation of our values:
“For the people” —Our actions must first and foremost benefit the people we serve, not require them to lean into a broken system. The system needs to be fixed, not the people, because we are not broken.
“By the people” —The team and the people we serve, our collective “we,” see ourselves as an active part of the solution, rather than a charity case to be saved.
“With the people” —We choose to walk this journey together, in partnership with others with shared values and goals, amplifying their voices, and seeking solutions on behalf of the larger community.
Let’s shift the way people think about food and use food to uplift our community, including our planet. We are broadening our impact, starting with our team of staff, apprentices and volunteers, to recover and redistribute food, transform overlooked food into upcycled nourishing products, and amplify the voices of people in our community to share our stories with the rest of the world.
