Grass Valley – As part of a year-long initiative to bring community awareness to the social and environmental impacts of food waste, BriarPatch Food Co-op will present the award-winning film Wasted! The Story of Food Waste.

The event hosted by the community-owned Co-op will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27 at Sierra Cinemas, 840 East Main Street in Grass Valley.

Wasted! The Story of Food Wasteaims to change the way people buy, cook, recycle and eat food. Told through the eyes of culinary heroes like Anthony Bourdain, Dan Barber, Mario Batali, Massimo Bottura and Danny Bowien, audiences will see how the world’s most influential chefs make the most of every kind of food. Chefs will transform what most people consider scraps into tasty dishes that create a more secure food system.

Wasted! exposes the criminality of food waste and how it’s directly contributing to climate change and shows how everyone can make small changes – delicious ones – to solve great social and environmental problems of the 21st Century.

A percentage of proceeds from the film night benefits Sierra Harvest’s Gold Country Gleaning Program. Volunteers in the program harvest seasonal produce that would otherwise go to waste and donates it to Interfaith Food Ministry which distributes to over 8,000 people in need. In 2019, volunteers harvested 21,237 pounds of food that would have otherwise gone to waste.

A short Q & A with BriarPatch General Manager Chris Maher and Sustainability Coordinator Lauren Scott will follow the film.

Attendees who are looking to round out their “dinner and a movie” evening can present their ticket stub at participating restaurants and receive $5 off any entrée. Participating restaurants include Kane’s Bar & Grill, Maria’s Mexican Restaurant, Three Forks Bakery & Brewing Co. and Tofanelli’s.

The film night is part of the Co-op’s year-long community journey, Food: Too Good to Waste to explore and better understand the global impacts of food waste and what individuals can do to help reduce it. Each month, the Co-op shares helpful tools, links, resources and activities designed to inspire manageable changes that can make a difference locally and beyond. On Thursday, March 12, BriarPatch will host a free community event, “Tackling Food Waste with a Plan” at Nevada County Media. The evening will feature a panel discussion with Sustainability Coordinator Lauren Scott, Nutritionist Wendy Van Wagner and Zero Waste Advocate Carly Davenport.

Learn more: https://www.briarpatch.coop/