Discovering the wonderful work being done by City Harvest London to collect and re-distribute surplus food to the needy and vulnerable was all it took to sow the seed for the Charity Canape initiative we have launched for 2020. Two canapes, made from off-cuts and trimmings in our kitchens are being offered in support of the wonderful work being carried out by City Harvest. Consequently, ‘last night’s bread’ will not only be turned into a delicious crust for fish tartare (made from trimmings) but also a toasted croute on which to place our ‘no-waste’ burger, made from beef off-cuts and topped with a sharp surplus-tomato chutney.
To put things in perspective, each week, City Harvest delivers over 80,000 meals to those in need, and recently reached 8 million meals rescued since its launch in 2014. That is equivalent to £10 million worth of fresh nutritious food that would have otherwise been sent to landfill, offsetting 12,000 tons of greenhouse gases. To be able to achieve those impressive statistics, the charity is supported by a very wide range of food retailers, wholesalers and restaurants, from household names to niche independents. Each day, these organisations deliver surplus produce to City Harvest which acts as a hub, carefully sorting and redistributing it the length and breadth of London to a very wide range of deserving projects.
Team BWoM visited City Harvest at the beginning of January to see the operation at work, and what an operation it is! As soon as crates of surplus produce arrive at the warehouse, the amazing army of staff and volunteers spring into action, date checking and sorting an array of foodstuffs – vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, stocks, sauces and ready meals to name just a few – before they are carefully re-packed, loaded up onto the vans and delivered to over 300 charitable projects to be turned into nutritious meals for the needy and vulnerable.
Every donation By Word of Mouth makes to City Harvest will support its incredible work re-distributing surplus food (the word ‘waste’ is understandably never used at City Harvest!) and this resonates very strongly with us all here at BWoM. The Charity Canapes are available now and we are delighted and proud that every time they are sold, we will be helping City Harvest in their mission to give food another life. Contact us to find out more or to receive a copy of our menus.