Thursday 17th April 2014
Is another man’s treasure. There are all sorts of projects up and down the country ranging from our partner FareShare who redistribute unwanted food to those in need to a little cafe in Leeds who specialise in out of date produce. Bertie was really pleased to see this video and thought it was a wonderful way of managing our waste and resources.
Working on a pay as you feel basis, the cafe cook up a variety of delicious dishes with one unique feature – all the ingredients are past their best before date. But best before does not mean inedible. It’s just the manufacturer’s way of telling you when they think the food should be eaten by so they don’t get into trouble. Ordinary restaurants and cafes would throw away the food contributing to the thousands of tonnes worth of food that ends up in landfill each year. Chef Adam Smith came up with the idea after seeing how much food was being wasted on farms in Australia.
Food is collected from restaurants around Leeds before being turned into dishes like Moroccan chicken stew, vegan lentil dahl, sandwiches, tarts and pastries so there really is something for everyone. Even better, the food that would have been wasted is often consumed by people who would otherwise have gone hungry.
You can watch a video all about the cafe here: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/video/2014/mar/27/cafe-food-past-sell-by-date-video
If you’ve heard of any inspiring ways of reducing our food waste let us know via social media!
