Feeding the 5k Bristol: There is such a thing as a free lunch

19 April 2012

Like anything that’s become a “West End” hit the next stop after London is the West Country and Feeding the 5000 is no exception. FareShare South West is hosting this hugely successful event to bring wider attention to the issues of food waste and food poverty on 12th May 2012, on College Green, Bristol.

FareShare South West (FSSW), a charity working with the food industry, distribute good quality food, that would have been wasted, to over 60 projects involved with vulnerable people across the region. On 12th May FSSW and their partners will be preparing and cooking a free hot lunch for members of the public using ingredients that would have been wasted, such as imperfect fruit and vegetables.

Feeding the 5000 Bristol will highlight how simple it is to reduce the unacceptable levels of food waste[i] in the UK and how government at local and national level, businesses and individuals can help. The event is being organised and hosted by FareShare South West[ii], in partnership with Feeding the 5000 and with the collaboration of The Soil Association[iii], Love Food Festival, Thali Café, Bristol City Council, Kambe Events[iv], Food Cycle[v] and Coexist[vi]. The event will be formally opened by Barbara Janke, Leader of Bristol City Council.

From 1pm to 5pm the charities, volunteers and chefs will serve a delicious free meal to members of the public. The menu will feature a hearty main course of Curry served with poppadoms, freshly pressed fruit juice and brownies for desert. The ‘demo’ kitchen will feature The Fabulous Baker Brothers, Tom Hunt from Poco Lounge and Barny Haughton from The Square Food Foundation. There will be music and children’s activities to help everyone work off their food. There will also be a ‘wonky veg’ stall where members of the public can pick up a bag of fruit and vegetables to take home.

Our guest chefs will demonstrate to the public in “Ready, Steady, Cook” style, simple to prepare, hearty, nutritious meals from food that FareShare receives on a regular basis. This will enable the public to understand that no good food needs to be wasted either from commercial operations or your own home.

Feeding the 5000 Bristol is campaigning to bring to the attention of the general public the unacceptably large volumes of food being wasted every day across not just the UK, but the globe.

Jacqui Reeves (Project Director, FareShare South West) revealed her motivations: “Feeding the 5000 is such a wonderful organization, having them involved together with high profile people like Tom and Henry Herbert will really help us spread the message that food waste has become socially and morally unacceptable. This event has West Country mentality written all over it – our region has never been a push over for anything, we always stand by what we believe in and Feeding the 5000 will have us demanding change and voting with our forks!”

Tristram Stuart (Feeding the 5000 founder) explains: “Feeding the 5000 is a wonderful partnership including farmers, charities and the public. The aim of our lunchtime feast is to highlight how food waste can be avoided by putting food to good use i.e. feeding people. We want businesses and the public to sign the Feeding the 5000 pledge to show how everyone has the power and the responsibility to help solve the global food waste scandal.”

Eco-chef Tom Hunt, co-founder of Forgotten Feast and Poco, Stokes Croft: "The vast majority of food being wasted in this country is not rubbish. It is delicious wonky organic vegetables and interesting cuts of meat that are prized elsewhere. We don't need to feel quilty about this waste as the solution is so simple... Eat it, don't throw it!"

At the event members of the public will be asked to sign the Feeding the 5000 pledge calling for action from government, retailers and food businesses: ‘I pledge to reduce my food waste and I want businesses to do the same’. Those unable to attend the event will be able to pledge through the Feeding the 5000 website (www.feeding5k.org).

Food businesses, restaurants and retailers are invited to sign the ‘Business Pledge’, agreeing to the principles of the ‘Food Waste Pyramid’, a new online guidance tool developed by the Feeding the 5000 partnership to help food businesses avoid waste by following a simple step by step process.

Event Highlights:

• 1pm-5pm - free feast and fruit pressing throughout the afternoon, along with:
• Signing the pledge
• ‘Wonky veg’ stall

Professional Chefs – showing off their skills in the ‘demo’ kitchen, and including:

• Tom and Henry Herbert – the Fabulous Baker Brothers
• Tom Hunt – Poco Lounge
• Barny Haughton – Square Food Foundation
• Thali Café Chef

Speakers include:

• Barbara Janke (Leader of Bristol City Council), who will formally open the event
• Tristam Stuart (founder of Feeding the 5000 and author of Waste and award winning campaigner)
• Professor Kevin Morgan (director of the Cardiff Regeneration Institute, and leading researcher in the field of Food Ethics)

Live Music from:

• Troubadour Hook
• Firefly
• This Isis

Children’s activity yurt, including:

• Butter making
• Seed egg shells
• Thought wall

Feeding the 5000 Bristol will also promote the activities of the partner organisations who will host activities during the afternoon including Coexist community kitchen, who will be whipping up some tasty brownies to attract anyone with a sweet tooth... all the more yummy because it is going in your bellies and not in the bin! Love Food Festival will be running a series of fun activities for children to show clever ways of using food and materials that would have otherwise been wasted.

Key Facts about the event:

• 1 tonne of vegetables and 750kg of fruit have been donated to this event to raise awareness of the issues around food waste. Anything not used in the event will be distributed to FareShare’s local Community Members
• 40 volunteers will wash, peel, chop, cook and serve the delicious curry
• Around 500kg of fruit will be on College Green, ready for juicing along with the ‘wonky veg’ stall where the public can take home fruit and veg.

- ENDS -

For more information:

We can provide interviews with:

• Tristram Stuart, founder of the Feeding the 5000, award-winning campaigner and author of Waste;
• Andrew Street, Chair of FSSW;
•  Jacqui Reeves, FSSW Project Director and event director; and

Event partners, including FareShare UK

We can provide interviews or press visits to the FareShare South West depot in Easton.

We can provide food waste facts, and photographs from previous Landfill Café and Feeding the 5000 events.

For further information please contact:
Andrew Street Chair of FareShare South West - astreet@slrconsulting.com
Jacqui Reeves, Project Director - jacqui@faresharesouthwest.org.uk
Molly Conisbee - mconisbee@soilassociation.org
Amanda Archer-Brown – aprilblue822@hotmail.com

Background info to F5K:

• The FareShare South West F5K event follows on from the success of the 2011, Trafalgar Square event, which illustrated the public’s appetite for engaging on the issue of food waste.
• When Tristram Stuart, food waste campaigner and author of Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal (Penguin, 2009 [ www.tristramstuart.co.uk]) began organising the event, it became a real catalyst for action – he was faced with a flood of farmers, packers and markets who wanted to donate food – either surplus, cancelled orders, or stock that did not meet supermarkets’ cosmetic standards and so would otherwise have been wasted.
• Around 5,000 curries were served; a quarter of a tonne of smoothies and 3 tonnes of fresh groceries were given away – all from food that would have otherwise gone to waste. It was all provided free, and it gave London a glimpse of the vast reserves of good food hidden in the nation's bins.The event profiled the work of partner charities working in the food waste sector and helped garner political support with the then DEFRA Minister, Hillary Benn MP, writing to CEO's of all UK supermarkets urging them to donate surplus food to FareShare or similar charities.
• Most of the major retailers have since improved their record in terms of food donations and other food waste reduction measures, but it is clear that much more can be done.
• The 2011 Trafalgar Square event offered a more targeted set of solutions to consumers as well as a business strategy aimed at helping food businesses find better ways of avoiding waste through the Food Waste Pyramid (FWP) scheme.
• The FWP scheme is a simple step-by-step process that prioritises 'waste avoidance' measures.

Our food donors:
FareShare South West is donated food from many different manufacturers and distributors, including Sainsbury’s, Brakes Bros, Pieminister. Some of the food used for this event is from our usual stock. The vegetables have been donated from Abel & Cole who delivers a wide range of organic groceries to more than 30,000 homes across England every week.
Since 1988 Abel & Cole has delivered excellent quality, fresh food to switched on households. Over the years we’ve developed close, trusting relationships with farmers and makers, whilst helping customers enjoy and understand sustainable, seasonal eating.
We minimise food waste and unnecessary packaging – using boxes, not bags, since day one – and promote biodiversity and animal welfare alongside fair trade and organic farming.
“We are very pleased to be part of the Feeding the 5000 Campaign, the issue of food waste is close to our heart and intrinsic to our ethos and the way we work.”

Community Projects:
Food that is not cooked or used for the event will go to FareShare South West’s Community Members including: The Wild Goose café, Fairbridge West, the Salvation Army and the Bristol Drug Project.