{"product_id":"millions-of-meals-hidden-in-robert-lee-9798195821753","title":"Millions of Meals Hidden in Plain Sight: Why Rescuing Food Is Key to Solving Hunger, Food Waste, and Income Inequality","description":"Good food is thrown away every day while people nearby wonder where their next meal will come from. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn Millions of Meals Hidden in Plain Sight, Robert Lee shows why hunger, food waste, and income inequality are not separate problems. They are connected outcomes of a system that too often fails to move food from surplus to need. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRobert's understanding of food insecurity began long before he entered the nonprofit world. Growing up in a Korean immigrant family, food was never something he could take for granted. Meals were stretched. Waste was unthinkable. Hunger was personal. Later, when he saw classmates throw away apples, baby carrots, and sandwich crusts, and when he saw edible food discarded by dining halls, restaurants, offices, grocery stores, coffee shops, and events, the contradiction became impossible to ignore. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe food already exists. The need already exists. The missing piece is connection. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis book is part personal story, part food systems analysis, and part practical roadmap for change. Lee explains how food rescue works, why good intentions are not enough, and why logistics, trust, policy, volunteers, donors, and local partnerships matter. He shows how small operational gaps, such as weekend rescue coverage, volunteer accountability, pickup thresholds, food safety concerns, and donor hesitation, can reveal larger failures in agriculture and food policy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMillions of Meals Hidden in Plain Sight also explores hunger as a symptom of income inequality. Food insecurity is not only about whether food exists. It is about who can reliably access and afford it. Families may face impossible trade-offs between rent, groceries, transportation, health costs, and work instability while edible surplus food disappears nearby. That is not a shortage of compassion. It is a failure of system design. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLee makes the case that rescuing food is one of the most practical ways to recycle value back into a broken food system. Food waste is not just a moral issue. It is an environmental issue, an economic issue, and a public policy issue. Every discarded meal carries embedded land, water, labor, energy, transportation, and money. When edible surplus food goes to landfill instead of people, society loses twice: hunger remains unsolved, and useful resources become waste. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eInside this book, readers will learn: \u003cbr\u003eWhy hunger and food waste can exist side by side in the same community\u003cbr\u003eHow income inequality shapes food access and food insecurity\u003cbr\u003eWhy food waste is often a predictable result of incentives, defaults, and policy\u003cbr\u003eHow food rescue fits into broader agriculture and food policy\u003cbr\u003eWhy restaurants, grocery stores, caterers, offices, dining halls, and coffee shops often need systems, not just goodwill\u003cbr\u003eHow volunteers, donors, and recipient organizations can work together safely and locally\u003cbr\u003eWhy recycling food value through rescue, recovery, and redistribution should become a normal part of environmental responsibility\u003cbr\u003eHow better policy can make food rescue easier, safer, and more scalable \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is not a book about blaming restaurants, donors, volunteers, or food businesses. It is a book about designing better systems. It is about making the right thing easier than the default. It is about recognizing that food rescue is not just charity. It is logistics. It is recycling. It is food policy. It is income inequality. And most importantly, it is a practical way to feed people with food that already exists. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor donors, food businesses, policymakers, nonprofit leaders, volunteers, social entrepreneurs, and anyone who cares about hunger, waste reduction, recycling, and a fairer food system, Millions of Meals Hidden in Plain Sight offers a clear message: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWe do not need to accept a world where good food disappears while hunger remains nearby. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWe can build the connection. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAll proceeds go to Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, Inc. a 501(c)3 organization.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Robert Lee\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798195821753\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/29\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.63lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.44d","brand":"Robert Lee","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48743267664127,"sku":"9798195821753","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/millions-of-meals-hidden-in-robert-lee-9798195821753","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}