Food Is Wasted - Documenting the issue of food waste-logo

Food Is Wasted - Documenting the issue of food waste

Arts & Culture Podcasts

Food Is Wasted started off as a documentary photography project by Chris King, initiated by a desire to raise awareness about the many and varied initiatives fighting to reduce avoidable food waste. It's hoped that the project will play some part in helping to engage people and motivating them to take action - however small - be it by volunteering for an organisation, or being more conscious of the food they waste as individuals, and proactively try to reduce it.

Location:

United Kingdom

Description:

Food Is Wasted started off as a documentary photography project by Chris King, initiated by a desire to raise awareness about the many and varied initiatives fighting to reduce avoidable food waste. It's hoped that the project will play some part in helping to engage people and motivating them to take action - however small - be it by volunteering for an organisation, or being more conscious of the food they waste as individuals, and proactively try to reduce it.

Language:

English


Episodes

OddBox - bringing wonky fruit and veg to homes and offices

8/14/2018
Oddbox is a London-based box scheme that works directly with farmers and growers to take their wonky and surplus produce – so food that might otherwise have gone to waste - then deliver them straight to their members’ doors at a price that’s fair for both the farmer and their members. I spoke to Emilie and Deepak - the two founders of the company, about how they started off, how they sourced their produce, what they’ve witnessed, and what they feel needs to be done to make a more...

Duration:00:54:04

Feedback - Ranking supermarkets on reducing food waste

7/31/2018
In this episode of the Food Is Wasted podcast, I’ll be speaking to Christina O’Sullivan from Feedback – a London-based organisation running several campaigns related to food waste – such as the Gleaning Network and the Pig Idea – both of which feature on the Food Is Wasted website. Feedback recently published a report called ‘The Food Waste Scorecard’, authored by Christina, which ranked the 10 biggest supermarkets in the UK according to their performance in reducing food waste. The...

Duration:00:43:45

Selina Juul - Denmark's food waste champion

7/17/2018
When I was over in Copenhagen last year for a few days, I got in touch with Selina Juul – founder of the organisation Stop Wasting Food - to see if she would be willing and able to be interviewed, and she very kindly said she was. The day we arranged to meet Selina was being interviewed and participating in a panel discussion at a national radio station, which I was able to sit in on. After which we found a suitable space to conduct this interview. Those people who keep an eye on all things...

Duration:00:37:04

Bubble and Squeak - A social enterprise run by school children

7/3/2018
In this episode I speak to some of the children who run the social enterprise Bubble and Squeak, at their school in West London - selling surplus food in the school playground and to the local community. The initiative is led by around 400 children aged 5 to 12 years old, and aims to take edible surplus food such as fruit and vegetables from local businesses, markets and supermarkets, to then redistribute it to the local community on a ‘pay as you feel’ basis. I visited the children at...

Duration:00:37:07

Chef Tom Hunt - Promoting 'Root to Fruit' eating

6/19/2018
This podcast is a brief interview I conducted with the chef Tom Hunt. Tom is not just an award-winning chef and restaurant owner, but also a food writer, sustainability consultant and campaigner, as well as author of the book The Natural Cook. Tom's response to the issue of food waste is to promote what he calls 'Root to Fruit Eating', which we touch upon briefly in the interview, and which entails – eating for pleasure, eating whole foods, and eating the best food you can. I met up with...

Duration:00:17:21

Seedling - Reducing Food Waste through Vertical Farming and Aquaponics

4/19/2017
In this episode, I'm speaking to Travis Andren from Seedling in Philadelphia, in the United States - an organisation working on bringing efficient forms of urban-based, vertical farming and aquaponics into the mainstream. A lot of the focus on reducing avoidable food waste is placed on the household, or changing supermarket practices, all of which are important in addressing the flaws in the current system. But what if a new agricultural system was introduced to reduce the dependency on the...

Duration:00:50:52

Pete Pearson - Director of WWF US food waste campaign

3/29/2017
In this episode I'm speaking to Pete Pearson - Director of food waste at the World Wildlife Fund’s US offices. WWF is an international NGO working in over 100 countries - focusing on conservation and minimising the impact we humans have on the environment, and the other animals with whom we share this planet. Since 2015 they've been devoting resources to a campaign to reduce food waste, resulting in initiatives both commercial and educational in focus. I discuss with Pete the evolution of...

Duration:00:30:29

Food for Soul - Promoting social awareness about food waste and hunger

3/22/2017
In this episode I'm speaking to Cristina Reni from Food for Soul - an organisation based in Italy, set up by the chef Massimo Bottura, who runs the number one restaurant in the world. The organisation aims to encourage public and private organisations to create community kitchens around the world, and was created after Massimo was involved in setting up a soup kitchen in an abandoned theatre during the Expo 2015 in Milan, feeding vulnerable members of the community using food left over from...

Duration:00:41:34

Elysia - Meals and catering using surplus food from local artisans

3/15/2017
In this episode I'm speaking to Sophie from Elysia - a new start-up social enterprise which buys food that would otherwise have gone to waste from various local, artisan suppliers at a discounted rate, and uses them to create meals to order, as well as catering for events. I caught up with Sophie during one such event, and she shared with me the story behind Elysia, how it functions, and the impact her company is having on reducing avoidable food waste. Then we met up a second time when...

Duration:00:21:55

Margaret Ritchie MP, of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

2/21/2017
In this episode I'm speaking to Margaret Ritchie MP - Member of Parliament for South Down in Northern Ireland, and a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. In the previous episode I'd said I would be publishing a second SOS NI podcast, which shared the stories of the staff and volunteers, and the organisations they support, but it's taking me longer to piece together than I'd hoped, and because I've been recording other interviews at the same time I didn't want to...

Duration:00:14:29

SOS NI - Rescuing fresh food and redistributing to those in need

1/18/2017
In this episode I'm speaking to Pete Loughins from SOS Northern Ireland's Food Programme, which gathers food and other goods from supermarkets that would otherwise go to waste, and redistributes them to other non-profit organisations which are providing frontline support to vulnerable members of the community. What distinguishes SOS NI from other redistribution initiatives is their focus on capturing fresh produce - collecting bread and other baked goods, fruit and vegetables, rather than...

Duration:00:22:48

Fruta Feia - Giving farmers a fair price for their wonky veg

12/26/2016
In this episode I'm speaking to a couple of people from Fruta Feia a co-operative with hubs around Portugal, that buys food from farmers that has been rejected by the retailers they supply, and would otherwise have gone to waste - selling this seasonal and locally sourced produce on to its members. I was fortunate enough to spend the day with Fruta Feia, as they collected food from various suppliers from towns and villages nearby Lisbon, and then took it to a community centre to create the...

Duration:00:12:22

ReFood - Hyperlocal food rescue and redistribution

11/11/2016
In this episode I'm speaking to Hunter Halder, founder of the ReFood movement in Portugal. Hunter is originally from the US, but has lived in Lisbon for many years. In the 5 years that ReFood has existed, it has gone from 1 volunteer to 4,000, and serving 2,500 people 46,000 meals in a month. The organisation is entirely volunteer run, and focuses on addressing the issues of food waste and food poverty at a neighbourhood level. I have to say in the 3 years I've been documenting the...

Duration:00:40:45

ChicP - Hummus from surplus vegetables

11/11/2016
This first episode of the podcast - which was recorded just before Christmas, hence the references to Brussel sprouts and the festive season - introduces the work of Hannah McCollum who founded ChicP - a company that gathers food that would otherwise go to waste from local markets, and produces very tasty sweet and savoury hummus.

Duration:00:17:58