WASTE NOT WANT NOT

The war on food waste is underway and it’s not as difficult as you may think to jump on board

As a child I remember being asked to throw away unwanted food in the bin if I had finished with it. Recycling or composting was not a thing back then. Later in life, I was taught to cut and throw away the ‘bad’ parts while I was at cooking school. But then I started wondering: when it comes to food is there really such a thing as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ part?

It may have once been the norm to have a division between the idea of food and waste, but it should no longer be this way. Food is the base for survival; it is a resource that can be put back into society by recycling it.

Think about this quite simply: if a carrot is eaten, and some is left behind, then that leftover carrot can be made into a meal, or put in a caddy bin for recycling and eventually for compost in gardens. Whoever, and wherever, you are, you can do your bit to recycle and have a positive impact on the world. And who knows? Perhaps one day, less waste will lead to less local taxes! Another thing to consider is the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes of food creation.

It’s amazing to watch the time and effort that goes into growing produce on an organic vegetable farm just to provide food for people to eat. Now, food is mostly made by machines, but going back to doing things manually can only be a positive. Treat food with the respect, because it deserves it.

Food waste is truly an environmental, economic and a social concern. The largest producer of food waste in the UK is the domestic household. It hasn’t always been this way, though. In WW2, rationing meant that there was legislation in place that could result in imprisonment for wasting food. We can still take inspiration from this kind of attitude, and start seeing the fun and creativity involved with cooking with ‘food waste’.