Some of the country’s best chefs will today be offering hot, free lunches to the public as part of this year’s Think.Eat.Save initiative.
For the third year running, food rescue organisation, OzHarvest, has teamed up with the United Nations to address food wastage and promote food and nutrition security.
With events running across the country, Think.Eat.Save will see leading chefs including Neil Perry, Guillaume Brahimi, Peter Gilmore and Somer Sivrioglu preparing hot, free meals for the public from rescued produce that would otherwise have been destined for landfill.
The national events are part of a global campaign in partnership with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the UN’s Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Save Food Initiative, ‘Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction’, which launched in June this year at Parliament House in Canberra. The campaign called on the nation’s political leaders to set a target to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2025.
OzHarvest founder, Ronni Kahn, said “We are all responsible and accountable for the food produced, consumed and wasted on this planet. This year’s Think.Eat.Save campaign will bring awareness to [the] issues of global food sustainability and security, and encourage all Australians to take meaningful action to minimise food waste at a local level. It’s up to each of us to create positive change.
“Australia needs to lead on this global mission to combat food waste and make our food system more sustainable. I encourage all businesses, food industry, schools, all levels of government and the Australian public to join in this movement and make a pledge to reduce food waste.”
Members of the public are encouraged to make a personal pledge to reduce food waste via the Think.Eat.Save website, or post an image of an ‘X’ made from utensils or food items along with the hashtag #thinkeatsave on social media.
For more information on Think.Eat.Save and the events running across the country today, click here.
Tonight, chef Diego Muoz of Lima’s Astrid y Gastn – recently voted 14th Best Restaurant in the World – is teaming up with Neil Perry and chef Phil Wood to cook at Sydney’s Rockpool Est 1989 for a one-off special dinner.
Perry said that the group was thrilled to be working alongside Diego for the event, and excited to create a unique menu that celebrates OzHarvest’s work.
“It is also the first major event for the Rockpool Foundation, the charity arm of our restaurant group, which we have just created. We are incredibly proud of this achievement and all the money raised via the Foundation will go directly to organisations such as OzHarvest.”
As part of last year's event, OzHarvest launched the #mealforameal campaign, where for every food picture posted to social media with the #mealforameal hashtag, Virgin Australia made a donation to OzHarvest. Hospitality went to the launch and spoke to a number of leading chefs about food wastage in the foodservice industry.
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Frank Camorra, Guilllaume Brahimi and Somer Sivrioglu shared these tips on how to reduce wastage in commercial kitchens.
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