Waste not, want not...
Food waste is a huge issue for quite some time, especially at Christmas when we tend to buy more than we actually eat.
Initiatives like Food Cloud are tackling food waste in supermarkets but what happens to the food we hoard at home until we throw it out? There doesn’t seem to be a plan B and the food ends up on landfills.
Sweden has started plan B with several programmes to tackle food waste. Hellmann’s (yes, the mayonnaise company) have opened a restaurant in Sweden that has no food but are asking the public to bring their food waste to the restaurant where chefs are transforming the food into dishes for their diners.
Instead of a bill, guests received the recipe of the dish they had eaten!
Hellmann’s tried to prove that you can make a meal out of anything with a dollop of their mayonnaise. The idea started in Sao Paolo but has been rolled out in Sweden and the UK in the meantime.
I read a Bord Bia report the other day that Sweden is a shining example of sustainability and that new programmes are launched to improve their environmental success. We have all heard the rumours that Sweden ran out of rubbish to recycle!
In fact they just went beyond their agreed levels, proving to the world that it is possible stick to targets set and even exceed them.
A lot of the initiatives in Sweden are non-state entities like Hellmann’s or pet food company Orkla who have started adding labels to their products to show the carbon footprint, making a conscious decision by consumers easier.
I am not sure if Hellmann’s is planning to open a restaurant with no food here – the Food Safety Authority might have something to say about it but there are several Irish initiatives to tackle food waste.
Most focus on education and according to the Swedish survey, most people don’t know which foods are more sustainable than others and how to prepare meals from leftovers.
I think we have lost our grandmother’s abilities to create a meal by just opening the fridge (or pantry as fridges might not have been around).
These days, everything is sold in large packaging while our families have gotten smaller.
It is actually more expensive to buy smaller packages in supermarkets and consumers might think they save money if buying in bulk.
Our grandmothers were able to buy exactly what they needed as the shop was selling their goods loose and not pre-packaged. These days, everything is nicely wrapped in layers of protective plastic and when opened to take a small amount, the rest gets forgotten in the back of the cupboard.
Maybe it’s not the consumer who needs education but the large corporate producers and supermarkets. My mum used to say ‘if you have eggs in the house, you have a meal’.
Check out www.stopfoodwaste.ie for great tips on how to prevent food waste.
For businesses in the food sector, www.foodwastecharter.ie is a great resource on how to prevent food waste in production.
After looking in the fridge/freezer I decided that I don’t need to go shopping but will make a tasty risotto from the lonely leek and the few peas left in the bag.