By Shelby Reynolds
Twenty-nine turkey. Forty-three ham.
That’s 72 leftover catered sandwich boxes.
Boxes sat stacked on the tables Wednesday evening. Their lids closed. The sandwich, cookie and fruit inside never got to see the light of the day before being gathered up by the kitchen workers at the Holiday Inn. One employee serenaded the lonely survivors with “Every Day I’m Hustlin” while he worked.
The garbage can was their final destination. The landfill their destiny.
“It’s definitely a waste to have to throw away that much food,” Free State senior Allison Morte said. “I think they need to plan a little better and not make as much.”
Like Morte, many campers and instructors at the Flint Hills Publication Workshop worried about what happened to all the leftover food from the hotel, including K-State Student Publications business manager Robyn O’Connell-Tatum.
“Man,” she said, “this is a lot of food. We can take this back to Kedzie, drop them off and let people eat. We love to eat.”
What O’Connell-Tatum learned was that if the surplus food left hotel, it would be considered a health code violation. Once the meals leave banquet manager Stephanie Cleveland’s hands, the food can be infected with harmful bacteria and a lawsuit could be filed against the hotel.
“I don’t want it to go to waste either,” Cleveland said. “It can’t be brought back, and it can’t be eaten.”
Cleveland explained that the only way to feed out the remaining meals would be to bring in more people or to send it to a soup kitchen, which wasn’t available in Manhattan, Kan.
Typically, Cleveland doesn’t put all the food out at once during meals -- just enough to feed the crowd. With those constantly refrigerated leftovers, Cleveland is able to alter recipes or puree ingredients like squash or zucchini to make soup.
Otherwise, it’s trash. Until Cleveland can change the rule, at least some of the lucky sandwich ingredients will maybe someday be fed as a lettuce, meat, cheese and bread soup. Maybe.
That’s 72 leftover catered sandwich boxes.
Boxes sat stacked on the tables Wednesday evening. Their lids closed. The sandwich, cookie and fruit inside never got to see the light of the day before being gathered up by the kitchen workers at the Holiday Inn. One employee serenaded the lonely survivors with “Every Day I’m Hustlin” while he worked.
The garbage can was their final destination. The landfill their destiny.
“It’s definitely a waste to have to throw away that much food,” Free State senior Allison Morte said. “I think they need to plan a little better and not make as much.”
Like Morte, many campers and instructors at the Flint Hills Publication Workshop worried about what happened to all the leftover food from the hotel, including K-State Student Publications business manager Robyn O’Connell-Tatum.
“Man,” she said, “this is a lot of food. We can take this back to Kedzie, drop them off and let people eat. We love to eat.”
What O’Connell-Tatum learned was that if the surplus food left hotel, it would be considered a health code violation. Once the meals leave banquet manager Stephanie Cleveland’s hands, the food can be infected with harmful bacteria and a lawsuit could be filed against the hotel.
“I don’t want it to go to waste either,” Cleveland said. “It can’t be brought back, and it can’t be eaten.”
Cleveland explained that the only way to feed out the remaining meals would be to bring in more people or to send it to a soup kitchen, which wasn’t available in Manhattan, Kan.
Typically, Cleveland doesn’t put all the food out at once during meals -- just enough to feed the crowd. With those constantly refrigerated leftovers, Cleveland is able to alter recipes or puree ingredients like squash or zucchini to make soup.
Otherwise, it’s trash. Until Cleveland can change the rule, at least some of the lucky sandwich ingredients will maybe someday be fed as a lettuce, meat, cheese and bread soup. Maybe.
Shelby Reynolds is a senior at Wichita Northwest High School and a student in the advanced writing class.
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