I was glad to see the Times story today about the world’s most important and most overlooked subject – wasted food. Having yelled and screamed about our obsession with the world running out of food, I’m glad to see a story on how to eat things that we normally consider trash.
The headline could hardly sum it up better: That’s Not Trash, That’s Dinner.
Gourmet cooks and sustainable eating types have found ways to put potato peels, radish stalks, and cauliflower leaves into every day meals. Watermelon rinds can replace cucumbers in salad? Peach soaked in wine to make an after-dinner aperitif? These are folks after my own heart.
I’ve done some of this sort of thing in my own kitchen from time to time. I from time to time eat something I like to call “leftover vegetable soup,” which is more or less what it sounds like – broccoli stalks and thick watercress stems in a salty vegetable broth. It has a virtuous quality to it that I enjoy more than flavor itself.
Upscale Sao Paulo eateries have gotten in on this act too. Restaurants in the hip neighborhoods of Vila Madalena and Pinheiros have joined an event called Vila Integral that challenges chefs to come up with menus including usually discarded odds and ends. Last year’s event included chicken in watercress-stem pesto, salads with beat stalks, and a dessert made from coconut and watermelon rind. The event is sponsored by the non-profit Banco de Alimentos, which seeks to reduce hunger by reducing food waste – something I wish were the basic starting point for anti-hunger programs.
On a practical level these sorts of events only scratch the surface when it comes to reducing food waste, but they do get people thinking about what’s food and what’s not.
No comments:
Post a Comment