Reimagining Food ‘Waste’
Food waste is a prevalent issue throughout the world, but in the events industry it’s a topic that’s front of mind every day. At Social Pantry, our actions are guided by the change we want to see in the world. We’re proud to lead the way for the industry, reducing food waste, running zero-to-landfill kitchens and working alongside responsible partners.
Wednesday the 24th April is Stop Food Waste Day, a global day in the calendar aimed at bringing awareness to the food waste issue that we are facing across the globe. It is the largest single day of action against food waste that hopes to educate, inspire and prevent the 33% of globally produced food going to landfill.
Why is it important?
Food waste occurs for all sorts of reasons: vegetables might not be considered aesthetic enough to be sold in supermarkets; people don’t know how to utilise the entirety of their ingredients; and over-consumption, leading to food going off before people have a chance to eat it. This waste causes problems all over the world, from contributing to the rising cost of living, ever-concerning green house gasses, and a lack of accessible food for those that are less fortunate. For perspective, if only 25% of the food wasted globally could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people. Changing this is not only the responsibility of individuals in their homes, but especially food-focused industries that must learn how to do their part to minimise waste and prevent the damage that it causes.
If 25% of the food currently being lost or wasted globally was saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million people around the world
How Do Social Pantry Tackle Food Waste?
Social Pantry’s Founder, Alex Head and Head of Development, Sarah Turner, are extremely passionate about minimising our food waste as a catering company. Part of being a zero-to-landfill caterer is being able to rethink ingredients and see their true potential, and luckily for us, Alex and Sarah are well versed in reusing and rethinking produce. That’s why we use parts of ingredients that might otherwise go to waste in new and exciting ways that taste fantastic and minimise what’s left over at the end of the day.
Getting Creative
Most – if not all – of our ‘waste’ produce is transformed before it becomes so, hero-ing these items across our menus and opening up conversations around zero-waste cooking. We find new uses for usually discarded produce by fermenting, preserving and reincorporating into our dishes. For example, on an event where we may be left with a few half-poured bottles of our favourite Rathfinny Estate English Sparkling Wine, we take this surplus fizz and turn it into a deliciously sharp jelly accompaniment to our elegant White Chocolate Mille-Feuille.
Another way that our team love to make full use of fresh produce is by using traditional preserving techniques to make them last longer and introduce new flavours into our dishes. We pickle lemon peel to use as a garnish on dishes; as well as taking squeezed lemons from behind the bar and creating a unique Spent Lemon Vinegar for use as dressings, or even ice cream. A Social Pantry favourite is to marinade the off-cuts of herbs in a fragrant olive oil, resulting in a Zero-Waste Herb Oil that provides a vibrant and flavourful drizzle for our savoury dishes.
Often, forgotten byproducts in the kitchen can create the most delicious things… we conjure caramel out of the whey left behind in the process of making labneh and we won’t even allow fish skin to be wasted, it is puffed up into crisp bites as a vessel for our Tuna Tartare canapés.
Meaning What We Say
We wouldn’t be being authentic to our beliefs if we were using brands that weren’t sustainable for the sake of profit. That’s why last year, as part of our ongoing operations to improve the sustainability of all aspects of our business, we removed some big names from our drinks offering, including Coca-Cola and Nestlé as their poor environmental practices and lack of ethical worker’s rights were not up-to-par with our values. Instead, we have replaced them with local, ethical brands that prioritise sustainable practices, promote biodiversity and fight food waste. One of these brands is Cawston Press who have partnered with the charity Fare Share UK to help fight food waste and tackle hunger in the UK. If you’d like to deep dive into this aspect of our journey towards becoming more sustainable, read more here.
Practical Solutions
Our staff lunches are a great opportunity to rethink ingredients that we have surplus of. Every day, we make nutritious meals for our team comprising of elements that might otherwise have gone to waste, whilst also preventing the team having to buy lunch from any external sources that might come with excess packaging. It’s also a fabulous way to bring the team together once a day, fostering a culture of community in our headquarters, something that’s very close to our hearts.
At Social Panty Café, any left over pastries, sandwiches or sweet treats at the end of the day are listed on Too Good To Go, an app where restaurants, cafés and shops can sell left over food that can’t be sold the next day at a discounted price. If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly and sustainable option for eating out, the app is definitely worth a look.
Working with responsible partners is incredibly important to us, even when it comes to taking out the bins! We work with First Mile, a recycling and waste management company that are also zero-to-landfill like us, but in their processes anything that can’t be recycled is taken to a waste-to-energy facility where rubbish is turned into energy to power homes.
Any left-overs that can’t be recycled, reimagined or redistributed, such as food left on plates at the end of an event are put into our ORCA, an anaerobic biodigester which breaks down food so that it can be fed into the normal plumbing infrastructure. A very smart piece of kit, the machine tracks the amount of food waste passing through it so that we can further identify any opportunities to reduce waste further down the line.
For more inspiration with innovative ways to deal with waste, take a look at some of the tips our Sustainability Consultant Nash suggests here.
