Copyright guampdn
Every day on our island, perfectly good food ends up in the trash, fresh produce that doesn’t sell fast enough, groceries that pass their “best-by” dates, and restaurant meals that can’t be stored. Meanwhile, families continue to face high food prices, and our island remains almost entirely dependent (nearly 90%) on imports for what we eat. As a chef and small-business owner, I see the contradiction up close, an island that loves food but wastes far too much of it. That’s why I’ve proposed the creation of the “Kitchen Lab”, a facility designed to turn Guam’s food waste into something far more valuable: jobs, food security, and opportunity for our people. The Kitchen Lab will be a modern food processing and innovation hub, a place where surplus and unsold food can be collected, cleaned, processed, and transformed into usable products instead of being discarded. Think of it as a “second life” kitchen for food that would otherwise go to waste. Fruits and vegetables that are slightly imperfect can become sauces, jams, and purees. Meat and grains can be prepared into ready-to-cook meals for schools and families. With the right equipment, storage, and staff, what’s now a cost to dispose of can become an asset that feeds many in our community. We are seeking support from the Guam Economic Development Authority to establish this facility. We are not just asking for assistance, but for a partnership, or rather as an investment in Guam’s resilience and self-sufficiency. The Kitchen Lab will do more than save food; it will create local jobs. From food technicians and packaging specialists to delivery drivers and culinary trainees, this initiative will provide real employment in an industry we all rely on. It will also offer shared-use equipment for small food entrepreneurs who can’t afford commercial-grade kitchens, helping them develop new products, scale up safely, and bring Guam-made foods to local shelves, and eventually to export markets. Annually, farmers lose thousands of dollars when crops spoil or go unsold. The Kitchen Lab will give them a reliable outlet for their surplus, allowing those products to be processed, preserved, and resold instead of thrown away. That means more income for local growers, less dependence on imported foods, and stronger connections between farmers, restaurants, and consumers. By keeping more of our food and money circulating within the island, the Kitchen Lab strengthens Guam’s economy from the ground up. We can also do this by helping to reduce the cost of several food products, because we are not importing the item. Food security isn’t only about growing more, it’s about wasting less. Every ton of food we rescue through the Kitchen Lab is a ton that doesn’t need to be shipped from across the Pacific. That means fewer supply-chain vulnerabilities and more local control over what ends up on our tables. When we reduce waste, we extend the life of our resources and make Guam more self-reliant. That’s good for families, farmers, and our future. The Kitchen Lab is a bold idea, but a practical one. It turns an existing problem, food waste, into a sustainable solution that addresses cost of living, job creation, and environmental responsibility all at once. I’m asking our government, our businesses, and our community to see this not as a project, but as a partnership, a way to build a smarter, more resilient Guam. Food connects all of us. Let’s make sure not a single bite goes to waste.
