Warwick Public Library’s central branch was home to an unusual sigh last Wednesday: a miniature kitchen, complete with fresh ingredients and a blender.

Rhode Island Community Food Bank was back in town with their “Healthy Habits: Eating Well on a Budget” workshop series, which provides nutrition education with a focus on accessibility. Participants learned how to avoid food waste by repurposing leftover food for a delicious meal.

Community Nutrition Manager Flannery Sullivan led the workshop alongside intern Jaelynn Accola. They began with a game: a culinary Mad Libs with nouns, verbs, and adjectives supplied by attendees, rolled at last into a story that wound up involving the rather unique recipe of pizza in a blender.

The segments that followed, while educational rather than whimsical, were no less interactive. A whiteboard presented participants with a question: why do we waste food? Sullivan took answers ranging from practical (“goes bad”) to economic (“supply + demand”) and wrote them all on the board after discussing each one. Then, she had participants roll a die, randomly determining a food waste scenario that might occur in real life, and calculated costs to demonstrate how the wasted money from each scenario can add up.

Immediately following was a discussion on ways to reduce food waste, such as properly storing different foods, sharing ingredients with friends, freezing prepared meals for later, and using the ingredients you have at home before you buy more. Sullivan encouraged participants to “shop at home first” before going to the grocery store, giving the example of a smoothie made with leftover fruits. This turned out to be a natural segue into the next activity: making smoothies.

Naturally, the smoothies were a big hit.

The dice made their return, this time with the name of a different ingredient on each side, and a few rolls determined what went into the smoothie. In went cantaloupe, mango, mango juice, coconut water —Accola operating the blender—and attendees were rewarded with a smoothie. The workshop came to a close with people sharing tips for saving food. One said cake batter can be frozen and saved for later—useful knowledge for anyone whose birthday wish is “more cake.”

The event was made possible by the library’s Idea Studio, whose “Charlie Cart” mobile kitchen is available on reserve for any groups who wish to use it. The studio opened in 2013 as a tech-focused space, but has since shifted to primarily accommodate group events after technology like the library’s 3D printer moved to the Tech Lab.

 Now, the Idea Studio serves as a space for a wide range of events, from culinary workshops like Healthy Habits to writing group meetups. The library began its partnership with the food bank after Deputy Director Ellen O’Brien read about Healthy Habits on the web and reached out to Sullivan about bringing the workshops to the Idea Studio. Five Healthy Habits workshops have been held since February 2023, including two centered on cooking skills for children.

Those attending the workshop went home with information sheets containing tips and statistics about food waste. One sheet outlined the environmental impact of food waste, explaining that food in a landfill releases the greenhouse gas methane as it rots, leading to emissions equivalent to 41 million cars driving continuously for an entire year. Food waste also costs the North American economy $278 billion each year, and the food we throw out could feed 260 million people according to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

“There’s always a little waste associated with what we do,” Sullivan said. Applying the tips offered in the workshop is one way to minimize that waste, helping to save money and the environment at the same time.

O’Brien said another Healthy Habits Workshop will be held in October.