The award-winning Ambrette restaurants in Margate and Rye, aim to draw attention to the enormous amounts of edible food we waste in Britain, through two charity dinners.
Ingredients commonly discarded by restaurants
Chef Patron Dev Biswal will create a gourmet 6-course tasting menu using ingredients commonly discarded by restaurants, supermarkets, butchers, fishmongers and domestic kitchens: chicken skin, cauliflower stalks, coriander roots, fruit peelings, squeezed lemons, lamb’s head, fish heads, skate cheeks, beef trimmings and cheese crusts.
The special menu, costing £39.95, will be served in Rye on 17 August and again in Margate on 31 August. Proceeds will be donated to provide humanitarian aid in South Sudan via the Red Cross.
The menu will feature Mouldy cheese soup; Crispy fried chicken skins marinated in mango, ginger and red chilli; Savoury panna cotta flavoured with cauliflower stalks; Fish head stew with summer vegetables; Ambrette style meat pie with beef trimmings and coriander root; and Squeezed lemon posset with summer vegetable peelings cooked in fennel seeds and a sugar and cinnamon compote.
Creating consciousness about food waste
According to government figures, each year in Britain we discard £10bn worth of food – £480 per household.
Globally, up to 50 per cent of all food produced in the world is never consumed. In the developing world, wastage is the result of inefficient harvesting, poor storage and inadequate transportation. But in the west, “sloppy habits”, poor meal planning and a disconnection from food sources mean we simply just waste it.
Up to 30 per cent of fruit and vegetables grown in the UK are never harvested. Crops are rejected because of size or appearance, or ploughed back because of over-production.
As resident chef on the Channel Four TV series ‘Superscrimpers’, Biswal regularly shows viewers how to prepare gourmet meals on a budget using cheap ingredients, left overs and wild plants forged for free.
He has also highlighted the vast quantities of food wasted on a global scale in an interview with Positive News magazine here
The goal is to create consciousness about food waste and donate proceeds raised from the “Waste Away” dinners to help alleviate the dreadful humanitarian situation in south Sudan,” said Biswal.
The Ambrette, 44 King Street, Margate Old Town, Kent CT9 1QE
T: 01843 231504
The Ambrette @ Rye, 24 High Street, Rye, East Sussex TN31 7JF
T: 01797 222043
W: www.theambrette.co.uk E: info@theambrette.co.uk
Tw: @the_ambrette