Tasty Waste
A dozen of London’s favourite restaurants are turning food by-products into delicious dinners, as part of a ground-breaking Food Waste Pledge
Diners in Hawksmoor Air Street should be advised a cordial on the new cocktail menu is made from prosecco that’s gone flat. No need to call in the food inspectors though: Hawksmoor (which has also halved the number of inedible garnishes in its cocktail menu), is just one of 12 leading central London restaurants in the Regent Street and St James district who have joined in a collective commitment to reduce food waste by 25 percent by May 2020. Restaurants including the Michelin-starred Sabor, Ziggy Green, Brasserie Zedel, ikoyi, Frescobaldi, Scully and the new plant-based Neat Burger have all signed up to the ground-breaking Food Waste Pledge, aiming to curb food waste and help tackle the global food waste crisis – sparking some creative culinary wizardry out of discarded ingredients as a by-product.
Created by The Crown Estate and supported by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, the Pledge has already inspired restaurateurs to reinvent and rework their menus in all sorts of exciting ways. Ristorante Frescobaldi has reduced bread waste by the simple expedient of removing its bread baskets – and created a Panzanella from leftover bread into the bargain. Meanwhile, tibits has conjured some inventive dishes out of surplus vegetable peels and leaves, such as their Cauliflower Leaf Muttakos; Laurent at Hotel Café Royal has used entire artichokes to create a seasonal artichoke velouté, while using excess peelings for soup stock; Café Murano’s Maltagliati dish uses rocket stems, leftover cheeses and offcuts of fresh egg pasta; and Scully has created a beef rump cap, aged for 28 days and transformed into ‘Tonto’s tartar.’ In addition, the restaurant has also addressed its supply chain – food suppliers now share other restaurants’ excess ingredients to avoid waste.
The Pledge, launched in May 2019, and inspired by the United Nation’s aim to reduce food waste by 50% per capita by 2030, comes amid growing consciousness around climate change: one third of all food produce is destined for landfill, resulting in huge volumes of greenhouse gas emissions. The UK food service industry itself produces over 1 million tonnes of waste annually – enough to fill The Shard 11 times over, each year.
“For us this is just the beginning,” says Katerina Mercury at The Crown Estate. “We will continue to work hard to tackle food waste in partnership with the plethora of high calibre restaurants… and we look forward to seeing what the next six months and beyond will bring.” Added Aisling Hayes, Senior Project Manager at the Sustainable Restaurant Association, “We are absolutely thrilled that we are at the halfway point of The Crown Estate’s brilliant but ambitious project to slash food waste by a quarter across 12 restaurants. We’ve seen the hard work, dedication and creativity invested by whole teams in keeping food on the plate and out of the bin.”