Crossings TV Asian Television – Home to Asian Americans
By Chef Billy Ngo, Restaurateur
The holidays are all about tradition, family, and food. As a chef, I see cooking as one of the most meaningful ways to show love. But let’s be honest, we too often buy too much, cook too much, and make more trash than usual. This year, I hope to inspire a different approach.
Growing up in an Asian household, nothing went to waste. Chicken bones became broth. Herb stems flavored soups. Leftover rice turned into a new dish. That mindset still shapes the way I cook today.
This season, I’m inviting families across California to rethink the holiday table with a waste-free mindset: planning ahead, giving food a second life, and recycling food scraps by putting them in the green bin.
- Start With What You Have. Holiday meals often include proteins like turkey, ham, or roast duck – and those leftovers are culinary gold. Instead of tossing bones, I use them to make a rich broth with aromatics. From there, I can create turkey congee, pork bone soup, or a holiday twist on Vietnamese chao. These dishes are warm, comforting, and rooted in Asian food traditions.
- Cook With Purpose. One of the best ways to make less trash: cook intentionally. Choose recipes that use ingredients fully. Save carrot tops, scallion roots, and onion skins for broth. Turn stale bread into croutons. Transform leftover mashed potatoes into savory cakes. Freeze leftover food for future meals. These small habits go a long way.
- Recycle Food Scraps. Even the best chefs don’t use 100% of every ingredient, and that’s okay. What matters is what comes next. When you’re done cooking, put food scraps in the green bin. This includes things like squash stems, eggshells, and shellfish shells. Most cities now provide curbside pickup, making it easy to keep food scraps from creating pollution in landfills.
If every Californian cooks more intentionally and recycles their food scraps in their green bin, the benefits add up quickly. Protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat starts with simple daily habits.
Delicious food can also be responsible food. This holiday season, I hope you’ll join me in honoring every ingredient and taking small steps that make a big impact. To learn more about how to recycle food scraps properly, visit RecyclingReimaginedCA.com.