Hi again. I'm looking at the Ideas Phase and realizing both of my most recent posts seem like they belong in the Waste Means Business subcategory. Should I repost both of them onto the Ideas Phase platform? I'd be happy to :)

Hi, thanks for reaching out! I just added an image. I want to add the Research Chefs Association logo or something similar because this OpenIDEO platform is a great way to get people already interested in this challenge, but I am awaiting approval and will do so when the time is appropriate. Regardless, looking forward to learning and seeing where our ReThink Waste Initiative can be best fit. Talk soon! -Phil

Hi Ashley, thanks for your reply! 

I focus on ugly vegetables because it is the a more neutral step towards incorporating wasted food ingredients into child food (as oppose to cryovacing acid whey into a tandoori chicken marinade or spent coffee-cocoa soil). Hypothetically, such frozen desserts would be made in a dessert production facility where they can be shipped to school lunch cafeterias, so they don't have to be prepared on-site. Similar to how fine-dining restaurants have exclusive relationships with farms, a symbiotic relationship can be established between a food R&D facility and (ideally local) farmers looking for a way to transport rejected produce. Vegetables are my focus for children to eat healthier earlier in life with an ending course considered to be a "reward," one that is lower in sugar and hopefully curtail sweet cravings. Of course ugly fruits can be fun, flavorful options,; but ugly vegetables aren't as immediately ready to consume and must be transformed (or hidden). This is nevertheless a long-term project that would utilize ingredients under the umbrella term of food waste--which hopefully can also include perfectly good produce going to waste at schools!

Charred bellpepper and plum gazpacho anyone? And, for a lunchtime dessert??