Still in time: 5 Must-attend food waste events in 2017

Food waste is becoming an increasingly hot topic. There are lots of conferences, summits, and other interesting gatherings popping up all over the world to attract attention to the problem. What is so exciting about it is that food waste events are the most fun and engaging way to create awareness about the issue within the entire community. From large organizations to charities, and households. Everybody has the opportunity to get involved and help solve one of the world’s most urgent problems: food waste.

One of these events is the Disco Soup that is taking place on September 15th from 3 pm to 11 pm, to celebrate Mercato Metropolitan's first anniversary in London and the launch of its Sustainable Weekend. Mercato Metropolitano is the community food market that started in Milan as a reaction to large food corporations being irresponsible socially and environmentally.

The market partnered up with charities Sustain, Effect and Feedback to cook a feast made with surplus food that otherwise would have been thrown away. Volunteers are welcome to cook the meal collectively to feed the 1000 expected  guests. If you can spare some of your time to spread your knowledge about food waste prevention to the entire community, please apply directly on Feedback’s website.  

Founded by activist, speaker, and award-winning author Tristram Stuart, Feedback’s main goal is to “create a culture change to make individuals and companies feel that they have to find a solution to food waste”. Said Tristram Stuart during an interview to Winnow. In order to solve the problem of food waste, it is vital to make people aware of the huge scale of the issue, it’s catastrophic consequences, and more importantly:  the opportunities that come with reducing it.

Reducing food waste matters. When we waste food, we lose the resources spent on the production process, such as energy, labor, and water. Worldwide a  third of all food is lost or wasted even before it hits our plates, costing us around 3 billion dollars annually. Feedback and many other food waste charities that have somehow crossed our path in the past 4 years have been extremely successful in organizing events to help us raise awareness, and ensure that people wake up to the issue of food waste.

We have selected a list of must attend food waste events and initiatives taking place in London and across Europe.

Here are our top picks:

• Refettorio Felix: Launched during the first London Food Month, Refettorio Felix is a pioneering soup kitchen serving lunch each weekday to local guests from underprivileged backgrounds. All meals are cooked with surplus food. Although the place is not open to the general public, its fully equipped kitchen and beautifully designed dining room are available for weekday evening and weekend hire, turning into a perfect setting for food waste events.

Winnow has partnered up with Food for Soul to help transform the Refettorio Felix into an even more sustainable and unique initiative. The kitchen staff will use the Winnow System to record the wasted items in order to learn the exact amount, time and reason the waste occurred. This information will be transformed into a detailed report to give chefs the tools necessary to drive improvements in their production processes to cut food waste.

• Sustain. The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. Sustain organises Urban Food Fortnight, which shines a light on the food that is made, cooked, grown, saved and foraged in the capital, as well as the amazing people behind the scenes. When: 8-24 September Where: London, UK
• Food Waste Conference: New Food Magazine presents its inaugural one-day conference, Food Waste: Reducing environmental impact and reaping business benefits. This event pioneers the conversation on issues relating to food waste, from legislation to packaging and household trends. It will also equip delegates with the strategies and techniques for measuring, monitoring and analysing their supply chain to identify areas of food wastage. When: 16 November Where: Manchester, UK
• The European Week of Waste Reduction: The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) aims to mobilise as many actors as possible to implement awareness raising actions on waste reduction, product reuse and materials recycling. When: 18 - 26 November Where: All over Europe

We are looking forward to attending food waste events to see both organizations and individuals waking up the issue.  What about you? Tell us how which food waste event you will attend next.

 Photo credit: Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash