It’s not everyday that you’re invited to feast on rubbish. A few of us from Abel & Cole were tempted up to the Arcola Theatre in north London last weekend to see what it was all about. The event was hosted by a young group, aptly named ‘This is Rubbish’.
Last December, they held an extraordinary event whereby they fed five thousand people in Trafalgar Square with food that would otherwise have been chucked in the bin. The impact of seeing skips overflowing with perfectly edible produce, which they turned into delicious soups and smoothies, was powerful to say the least.
Tristram Stuart, author of Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal (Penguin), was at the event. He said, “Feeding the 5,000 barely even scratches the surface of the nation’s profligacy. If you collected all the food wasted every day in the UK, it would provide lunch for 60 million people. The food wasted in rich North American and European countries would be enough to lift all the one billion malnourished people in the world out of hunger.”
His book is full of mind-blowing statistics, as well as useful tips on how you can make a powerful impact.
The fact that politicians are sweating about our ability to feed ourselves, and as a result trying to push GM foods as ‘The Answer’ is absurd if you consider the waste mountains created by not only us, but supermarkets, food manufacturers and other nooks and crannies in the food chain.
Caitlin, who set up This is Rubbish last October after seeing how much perfectly edible food was being thrown out at her local market notes: “Over half the food produced in the UK is either lost, wasted or discarded as a result of inefficiencies in the food chain.”
Her goal is to unveil waste problems by turning them into positive events like the one we attended. The supper was called ‘Down To Earth Dining’ and included a delicious gazpacho, roast carrot and cumin pâté, a hearty hot pot and a refreshing fruit salad – all made with food destined for the bin.
If you’re feeling fired up and ready to tackle the food waste problems, see the This is Rubbish website and let us know if you have any questions or ideas here…
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
25 Apr 2010 at 21:49
great initiative!
How is it possible that food not used in food industry and restaurants is not send to the homeless? would this be possible if there were volunteers for distribution?
would you consider selling overripe bananas for discount to consumers? they are great actually better for banana breads etc.
30 Apr 2010 at 19:30
Hi, I agree with IIona overripe bananas are great for banana bread and I for one would buy reduced overripe ones from you, I love all your products.
14 Jul 2010 at 14:25
Hello Ilona, We send most of our out of life fruit and veg to the night shelter in Winchester, as this is close to our packing line depot – our fish buyer Andre drops it off each week.
We also send some to the Andover food bank (http://www.andoverfoodbank.org.uk/) who look after people in the local community who are struggling.
We try to keep waste to a minimum so there isn’t too much spare but we also give stuff to Longleat and sometimes Deen City Farm in Wimbledon who use it to feed the animals. They open to disabled children and use the food as part of their therapy in being in contact with the animals.
We’ll look into selling overripe bananas, thanks for the idea, though it may be tricky to not cross the line from overripe to just plain off. Hmmm…we’ll ponder over some overripe bananas!
At the moment it’s down to companies in the food indsutry to take their own initiative, so it’s great if customers tell them they should do more to firstly avoid waste and then make good use of the unavoidable.
Thanks for the feedback both Ilona and Eve!
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