Gastronomy for Good: Daily Table’s Mission-Based Gastronomy
Today, we are highlighting more work from students in Steven Finn’s course: MET ML626 – Food Waste: Scope, Scale, and Signals for Sustainable Change. This is another post from Megan Perlman.
Traditional notions of gastronomy may conjure up a vision of white-toqued students making milles-feuilles, a critic with a notepad at a fancy restaurant, or the study of how terroir and farming methods impact a region’s grape varietal. While these certainly belong in the purview of gastronomy, Boston University’s Master of Arts in Gastronomy also affords us the opportunity to learn more about the social, cultural, and historical intricacies of how food and people connect. This includes connecting with local food activists and organizations making a difference in our communities.
There has never been a greater need for activism. The statistics are bleak. With rising cost of living showing no signs of abatement, an estimated 1.9 million adults in Massachusetts went hungry last year. The Harvard Political Review further explains the problem: “Residents of lower-income areas may be miles away from their nearest source of fresh, nutritious food…Fast-food chains and easily accessible corner stores sell mainly non-nutritious ‘junk’ food. Available fresh food, if there is any, is then much more expensive than ultra-processed alternatives, worsening the lack of access to healthy foods by low-income residents.”
How do we address these entrenched inequities? One innovative local organization, Daily Table, is dedicated to providing “fresh, tasty, convenient and nutritious food to communities most in need at prices everyone can afford.” Daily Table operates a series of grocery stores and food hubs in communities that are often underserved.
Their retail spaces in Central Square, Mattapan, Salem, Dorchester and Roxbury are designed to offer a range of healthy, fresh, and affordable foods. High-quality and nutritious food is available at prices that are lower than traditional grocery stores.
How are they able to do this? Michael O’Driscoll, the organization’s Director of Operations, and Chris Austin, its Executive Chef, spent an evening in our test kitchen breaking down their multifaceted strategy while also cooking us some of their delicious recipes.
O’Driscoll shared that while a majority of Daily Table’s outside funding comes from grants and corporate donations, sales revenue covers 70% of their operating expenses and, impressively, two of the stores already break even. This operational efficiency allows grants and donation funds to be primarily directed into capital investments with the goal of expanding the organization’s footprint.
Daily Table has partnerships with food manufacturers, retailers, and local producers that allow them to get food via donation or at deeply discounted prices. These “opportunity buys” require their procurement team (Austin called them “treasure hunters”) to be nimble and creative, seeking out and securing food that is expiring, surplus, or that won’t be sold by retailers simply for cosmetic reasons. Austin recounted receiving a shipment of salmon that had been rejected by a retailer because the color of the fish wasn’t orange enough simply because they had been feeding on prawns that were more white than pink. Then it’s his job to scramble to create a recipe or dish using the unexpected food. In fact, 400,000 lbs. of food were acquired as low-cost “opportunity buys” last year alone.
As an aside, this exemplifies the close connection between food scarcity, sustainability, and reducing environmental impact: those 200 tons of food fed many community members experiencing food insecurity instead of going to the landfill. In fact, anything expiring in Daily Table’s stores is given away or donated to other groups as part of their mission to cut food waste.
Austin, who grew up in Dorchester, works out of the commissary kitchen in the Dorchester store. He explained how he adapts each store’s recipes and offerings based on the ethnic communities they serve. Keeping community impact in mind, Daily Table does not sell junk food and focuses on nutrition. Collard greens are an example of a classic dish Austin adapts in a way that is familiar enough to be culturally appropriate but with a healthier twist: He cooks down the collards with vinegar and smoked paprika to mimic the smoky flavor of the traditional ham hock or bacon without its calories and sodium. Daily Table employs members of its local communities who share their own traditional recipes, including the recipe for their now highly popular jerk chicken.
None of this would matter if Daily Table didn’t focus on affordable pricing. While a Big Mac meal now costs an average of $9.29, Daily Table provides housemade grab-and-go food like sandwiches, smoothies, pre-packed complete meals, salads, burritos, and wraps that are cheaper and healthier than fast food. Customers can pick up a healthy wrap from $2.39 to $3.49, a salad for $1.99, or a full meal with two chicken legs, brown rice, and collard greens for $3.99. And while financial sustainability is a long-term goal for the organization, providing healthy food at a low cost for their customers always comes first: O’Driscoll revealed that Daily Table will sell items like their 39 cent/lb. bananas at a loss in order to keep their offerings accessible to all.
Daily Table currently serves 11,000 customers per week in five communities using their model of creativity, compassion, and collaboration; and the organization is continuing to grow.
Austin put it best: “Daily Table is not just a store, it is a food justice social enterprise.”
That’s a version of gastronomy we can all get behind.