Mei and Irene Li.

• Position: FIVE QUESTIONS FOR...

Co-founders of Mei Mei Dumplings and Food Waste Feast, Mei and Irene are on a mission to pass along their professional knowledge for reducing food waste in the kitchen. Designing dishes that use up everything in the fridge and offering workshops on how to make your dollars go further by cooking smarter, the sister-duo is on the cutting edge of the food waste revolution.

Where did your passion for cooking with little to no food waste start?

We became interested in reducing food waste when we opened our food truck and restaurant and saw just how much money we spent on ingredients. Wasting food made no sense from a business perspective.

It also felt so frustrating to throw out food knowing just how hard all the farmers we partner with work to grow vegetables and raise animals. Once we started paying attention to our food waste at work, it made sense to implement the same strategies and philosophies at home.

What role do Mei Mei and Food Waste Feast play in educating others about our food waste?

Our goal at Food Waste Feast is to help home chefs cook more creatively and eat all the food they buy. Not only does this help people eat better and save money, but it helps reduce the amount of perfectly edible food that goes to landfills.

The highest percentage of wasted food actually takes place in homes--it's over 40%! It's a daunting figure, but anyone who buys and cooks food can help address the problem. How? By looking at best-by dates more critically, moving something to the freezer before it goes bad, or making an omelet with everything you've cleaned out of the fridge. At Mei Mei Dumplings, we teach lots of cooking classes where participants learn not only to fold and cook dumplings, but also how to use up all kinds of ingredients. It's okay if your spinach is wilted if it's going inside a dumpling!

How can cooking creatively help restaurants and shoppers alike save money?

Professional chefs know that so many commonly discarded meat and vegetable parts can be used in unexpected ways. Mei stopped buying chicken stock once she realized how easy it was to make stock from chicken bones, onion ends, and carrot peels. You can buy fewer expensive fresh herbs when you both take the time to preserve them and use all the parts. For example, instead of storing basil in the fridge, keep it in a glass of water on your countertop. And don't just use cilantro leaves to season your...