Feeding 5000: Looking Back 4 Years Later

On October 7, 2016 Maine Farm and Sea Cooperative took part in the collaborative event, Feeding 5,000. This event in Monument Square in Portland, Maine featured a free bowl of nutrient-dense vegetable stew made from locally grown gleaned and donated produce, cooking demos by prominent local chefs, and educational activities involving creative food rescue.

Spearheaded by the Cumberland County Food Council, Healthy Acadia, and the Natural Resources Council of Maine, this event sought to highlight the mass amounts of food typically wasted and how the food we waste is nutritious, delicious, and perfectly safe to eat.

The meal was made possible by the 4174 pounds of gleaned and donated produce that would otherwise have gone uneaten, 95% of which was grown within 45 miles of Portland. The success of this event shows the feasibility of a localized food system, as well as highlighting the sheer amount of food we currently waste.

Feedback, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Town and Country Credit Union provided additional financial support. Community partners included farms, artist groups, universities, schools, restaurants, retail stores, the city council, state and regional agencies, and food security and public health organizations making this a truly community centric effort.

Maine Farm and Sea was proud to be a part of this event, bringing volunteers and large scale operational logistics knowledge to the event.

To learn more, watch: https://youtu.be/8fEfpp3HYug