LAC LA BICHE - Reducing the amount of household waste that finds its way into landfills means recycling and reusing various items, including unwanted and excess food.
Recently, a group of Lac La Biche area residents were given some food for thought while being shown how to make delicious fare during a salsa and cabbage-leaf workshop that took place at the Craigend Community Hall. The workshop, which took place on October 17, was part of Waste Reduction Week events held in Lac La Biche County. The workshop showed participants how to use leftover food for salsa.
The workshop was put on by Lindsay Kozakevich, the horticulture specialist for Lac La Biche County, who was assisted by Julia Shapka, the municipality’s coordinator of environmental services.
Those who attended were taught how to prepare salsa and cabbage leaves using different methods. Vegetables were cut up and placed into a pot along with tomatoes and boiled to be made into salsa. Once the salsa was ready, it was placed into glass jars and given to participants. During the evening, cabbage heads were also prepped to be fermented, which Kozakevich says is a three to four-week process.
Regarding the best types of leftovers that can be used for making salsa, as Kozakevich explains, pretty well anything goes.
“You can use tomatoes, peppers, onions, zucchini, diced up celery…really, it’s up to you what you’d like to do,” she said.
According to Shapka, quite a large percentage of food from each household annually winds up in landfills. Those landfills in the Lac La Biche area, she added, have varying lifespans, and officials are trying to diminish the amount of waste that goes into them every year.
Furthermore, she said, food that gets thrown into local landfills causes issues with wildlife, including bears going into the garbage pits in search of a meal.
“During Waste Reduction Week and all year round, one of the focuses of our department is really promoting on reducing food waste,” she told Lakeland This Week. “Food waste is definitely one of the main things that we can focus on to reduce going into the pit.”
Using an example of reducing food waste and making use of older food in a sustainable manner, Shapka explained that if people have tomatoes that are going bad, instead of throwing them into the garbage, by utilizing what they learned in the workshop, they will know how to use these vegetables to make salsa.
There is a process, Shapka continued, that goes into deciding when to keep or discard food.
“We want people to first think of how they could consume those products before thinking of throwing them out,” Shapka said. “And then obviously, if they are past their prime, we would promote composting instead of throwing them into the waste.”
