The Fight Against Food Waste
Think back to the last time you ate out. Did you leave anything on your plate?
If not, did you notice someone on the next table leaving a few pieces of bread or a few chips untouched on the plate?
The chances are that one of these statements rings true for you. Do you know what that means?
It means that you have seen the food waste issue in action – and are contributing to the £5 billion worth of food waste produced by the UK hospitality industry every year.
Pretty shocking, right?
Food waste is a huge issue in the world right now, with waste constituting the food we throw away and that which we feed to animals. Not only does this waste cost billions of pounds in finances, but it wastes the time of food producers, and it produces extensive carbon emissions which are harmful to our planet.
The long and short of it is that food waste does little good but presents endless bad – and it’s time to do something about it.
The Humble Grape Approach
Now, we do not pretend to be experts in the area of food waste. Nor have our methods and ideas reached a wide enough audience to put a dent in the problem quite yet. But what we do promise is a commitment to striving to become more sustainable and to better educate our guests, playing our part and adopting an ultimately zero-waste ethos when it comes to our menu.
How do we intend to do that? Let’s head to the kitchen and have a chat with Head Chef Dane, to find out.
“What we recognised is that most restaurants around us in London are looking for the biggest and best of every ingredient. They want the fillet steaks and the shoulder of lamb – never mind what happens to the rest of the animal. Likewise, they take the brightest and biggest vegetables, and send the rest to waste. So, our aim is to cut those coveted and high-demand ingredients from our menu, and instead cook with the parts that those big restaurants don’t want. An example of this in action is the way we use cauliflower leaves – 9/10 these are viewed as rubbish, but for us they can be boiled into a sauce or fermented into a salad.”
They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and that couldn’t be truer as you move through the Humble Grape kitchen. But there is one key difference. The customers love everything on the Humble Kitchen menu!
The Response to Humble Grape’s War on Food Waste
The art of using the entire animal (from head to toe), the entire vegetable (from root to stem), and even the stalest loaf of bread (an ideal start to the perfect crouton) is not one which comes easily – but it does invite the Chef’s at Humble Grape to be creative and add new skills to their roster each and every day.
With menus designed to use the very ingredients which diners would be scared to cook at home, every dish served at Humble Grape creates an experience and introduces customers and diners to things they wouldn’t usually try – all in an effort to educate the people on how they can create their own war on food waste both when they dine out and when they cook at home.
What you can do about food waste
To join our fight against food waste, you don’t just have to visit one of our wine bars - there are things you can do at home too!
Plan your meals before you go food shopping, and make allowances for leftovers when planning tomorrow’s lunch.
Store your food well, in airtight containers. If you buy reduced food with a short shelf life, make sure you will use it.
Support food-rescue efforts such as local food banks for families in need.
Get your community involved, for example talking to local eateries about donating their waste food at the end of a shift.
To learn more about the Humble Grape mission and to discover dishes you never knew could taste so good, head to one of our London venues for a slap-up dinner (and a glass or two of our finest wine!)
