Impossible. There's no way you could possibly imagine it.

I once saw a hotel throw out at least a dozen delicious pork roasts (I grabbed a couple before), 2 entire queens of key lime pies, and too much of everything else to quantify. It was a massive banquet for 2000+, and they made lots more food than they needed.

These events are not "irregular things," as one poster put it. That was only one banquet, on one night, in one hotel. I am in one of the major convention cities, and banquets like that go on EVERY night, in multiple hotels. Some hotels are hosting multiple conventions at a time, AND multiple large companies attending those conventions, as well as their Local Social events like Weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. The food waste is mind-boggling.

One of the favorite things I watch for is cheese. As we're leaving, I always take a stroll past the dishwashing room, where there are always queens (rolling racks) lined up full of dirty dishes. I guarantee that on one of those queens is the cheese tray that was on the buffet, and it will contain four or five multi-POUND blocks of barely touched, expensive cheese that is going to go straight into the trash. I can usually grab a block of cheddar, blue cheese, Swiss, maybe a couple more. I probably take home $1000 in free cheese every year.

I understand that they have to carefully monitor the food safety protocols, but I don't know why vans from food banks can't be waiting at the hotels at 9 pm at night, to collect any leftover food, and rush it back to refrigeration, to be reheated and served the next day.

Or even that night. I'm sure hungry homeless people wouldn't mind waiting until 10 pm to eat, if it meant a feast like pork roast mashed potatoes, and key lime pie.