New York CityAs sirens wailed and pigeons wheeled, thousands of people in Union Square on Tuesday feasted on a lunch of tasty ratatouille; a dollop of pickled peppers, carrots, apples, pear and celery; and a wedge of torte made of vegetable trimmings mixed with 1,010 eggs. 

But this was much more than a free lunch. All of the food was either surplus from wholesalers or farms, or had cosmetic imperfections, such as nicks and gnarls, that grocers won’t tolerate.  

Known as Feeding the 5,000, this New York City event was organized by Feedback, a British nonprofit that campaigns against food waste by presenting boisterous eat-ins sourced entirely from food that would otherwise have gone to waste. 

As the local chefs who’d prepared the meals mingled among the crowd, a steady stream of businesspeople, neighborhood residents, students, and the homeless accepted pre-filled compostable bowls from volunteers. They