East End Food Institute's mission is to support, promote, and advocate for local food and local producers. The organization operates a commercial kitchen in Southampton to produce local products for farms, schools, hospitals, food pantries, and other distribution channels that help people access local food.

 

During the COVID-19 crisis, East End Food Institute expanded its Farm to Community program in partnership with Honest Man Restaurant Group to prepare and distribute nearly 15,000 meals over the course of 6 weeks at the height of the pandemic. Ready-to-heat frozen meals were distributed weekly to patrons of Heart of the Hamptons food pantry (Southampton) and Springs Food Pantry (East Hampton). For another six weeks, East End Food Institute partnered with Haskell's Seafood and Long Island Cares to aggregate and distribute over 5,000 pounds of locally caught and processed frozen seafood portioned for easy use at home. East End Food Institute also distributed over 100 shift meals to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital medical professionals.

 

East End Food Institute plays a critical production and distribution support role within the local food system and is prepared to assist local food pantries and food banks in providing for community members in need. As food pantries began to receive more robust support and logistics have improved to serve higher volumes, East End Food Institute has resumed its traditional Farm to Community program. The Farm to Community program engages kitchen staff and volunteers to process and freeze thousands of pounds of surplus local produce each season. In partnership with Long Island Cares Harry Chapin Food Bank, this frozen produce is distributed to food pantries in communities across the region.

 

Donations support the purchase of surplus produce and costs associated with processing and packaging frozen produce. Support the cause and donate today.