Welcome, Austin Smith!

I’ve been working with food for years. Even before I entered the labor market after undergrad, I had been putting my energy toward volunteering at farms, coordinating a student-run community garden, and pointing at cows whenever I drive past them. I moved to Boston from Maine in 2021, and after working in grocery and food service for several months, I felt that I needed to put my time and energy into something more value-aligned.

During undergrad, I studied philosophy and political theory while managing the student-run community garden. If that isn’t a pipeline to working at a food rescue, I don’t know what is.

I bring a passion for cooking and its power to build community. When I load up the truck every morning, I see thousands of pounds of ingredients. Learning about the programs that our partners run, and the communities they serve, is a way that I hope to support everyone in excerising the creative, community-building joy that is cooking. It’s a pleasure to save certain ingredients for our neighbors that we know will uniquely appreciate them.

My family definitely considers me a good cook. Every once in a while, my partner and I tool around with writing a cookbook or opening a vegan food truck, but we’ve settled on just perfecting recipes in our own personal recipe book for now. If we do ever start that restaurant, you can expect a broad assortment of cuisines. Why choose between tacos and curry if you don’t have to!

Right now, my tiny apartment fridge is stuffed full of salad greens, leftover massaman curry, chana masala, loose vegetables, at least two containers of oat milk, fresh fruit, and some Impossible™ Burgers.

My mom used to make a really good corn-bean salad every summer. It’s a simple recipe, just black beans, corn, cilantro, scallions, lime juice, cumin, and salt. Perfect for putting on a corn chip. It reminds me of childhood summers.