Fight Food Waste Friday – Say ‘I do’ to Food Waste

Feedback is committed to shedding light on the global food waste scandal and enacting tasty solutions to combat it. Of course, we aren’t the only ones. Each Friday we will be bringing you #fightfoodwastefriday, giving our supporters the chance to gain a new perspective on the global fight against food waste. We’ll also give you a short update of what Feedback has been up to over the past week.

Feedback Weekly Update

One week ago, on World Food Day The Urban Food Policy Pact launched. The International pact with over 100 cities, including London, commits urban areas to create more sustainable and equitable food systems. The pact also calls for coordination on international food polices and the need for leadership in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to halve food waste by 2030.

Feeding the 5000

In celebration of World Food Day and the signing of this very important pact, there were two Feeding the 5000 events. Both events showcased the tasty solutions to food waste by preparing, in combination, 10,000 meals for the public from food that would otherwise be thrown away.

Feeding the 5000 Warsaw rescued 4,200 KG of food from going to waste, with  3,000 KG of potatoes donated to the Warsaw Food Bank. Together with partners and amazing volunteers the event served 5000 portions of the main meal and gave away 600 KG of food through Disco chopping, workshops and grocery giveaways.

Here’s a video of ‘Fasolki’ (little beans) warming up to perform their food themed songs on the big day:

Feeding the 5000 Milan was a great success, already running out of food by 3:00PM. The volunteers and food waste warriors saved 2,437 kg of food from going to waste.

Have a look at the day here:

Both events also saw great pitches from The Food Surplus Entrepreneurs Network for some exciting new projects combating food waste. If you or someone you know is interested in learning how to “pay yourself a salary while reducing food waste” consider joining the Food Waste Collab in Bern on 11/11/15. More information here.

 Gleaning Network

Last week the Gleaning Network coordinated 0.8 tonnes of pears from packhouse waste to be picked up by the charity FareShare.

There was also an apple glean in Kent, where the team rescued 1.8 tonnes of apples and plums, equal to over 22,500 portions from going to waste. These apples were going to waste merely for being too small or the wrong colour for retailers! Approximately 150 kilos were transported by James from CFE to Food for All to take to refugees in Calais.

Finally, in other news from the food waste fighting community…

Say ‘I Do’ to Food Waste

When you think of weddings, food waste doesn’t exactly come to mind. But for Paul and Katherine Maxell-Rose it certainly did. The couple wanted an ethical wedding in order to reflect their values and with 15 million tonnes of food being thrown away every year in the UK alone, food sourcing for their big day presented some even bigger questions.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation “roughly one-third of the edible parts of food produced for human consumption, gets lost or wasted globally, which is about 1.3 billion ton per year.” At the same time over 800 million people endure hunger globally. There is deprivation in a sea of plenty. So what does an ethical catering company look like?

Save the Date Café is a part of The Real Junk Food Project, a Leeds based project between caterers and activists working to change the food system. Save the Date Café rescues perfectly edible food destined for landfill from restaurants and supermarkets. They then cook up healthy and delicious meals on a pay-what-you-feel basis. In its first 3 months of opening last year, the café rescued 1 tonne of food waste from going to landfill. The Save the Date Café has been been doing tremendous work ever since, and Feedback are lucky to be the café’s neighbours.

There is a vast amount of perfectly edible food that will get tossed even before it makes it to supermarket shelves. In the UK businesses throw out over 7 million tonnes of food annually, before it even gets to the consumer – that’s enough to feed 10 million people.

With so much food going to waste, the fact is food waste shouldn’t be thought of as waste at all. We should think of it as something special– like wild mushroom goulash, char-grilled mixed vegetable skewers, sweet and sour pomegranate rice and vegetable flan. That was what Save the Date Café cooked from food that would have otherwise gone to waste on Paul and Katherine’s special day.

Stay tuned for next weeks Fight Food Waste Friday for more news and updates from the Feedback Team.