On Thursday October 19, 2023, Fooditude opened up its central production kitchen to host a special cooking workshop for Circular Economy Week. This was an opportunity to bring like-minded people together, interested in shaping a sustainable future, and with a love of good food. After all, what better way to explore circular economy concepts, than learning to cook delicious food in the kitchen?
What’s Circular Economy Week all about then?
Fooditude’s circular economy event was one of many happening across London, brought together by ReLondon. The week champions the transition to a circular economy, encouraging businesses to leverage circular recommerce business models. In short: companies need to become more sustainably efficient by reselling, repairing, renting, returning and redistributing more.
Kicking off the event
Ellie Harrison, Senior Sustainability Consultant at Sustainable Restaurant Association, kicked off the event with a presentation that got everyone on the same page about circular economy. We learnt the differences between linear, recycling and circular economy and the associated environmental challenges.
Before everyone got started on their workshops, Ellie helped to bridge the gap between the workshop activities and their association to the circular economy. She explored how Wildfarmed flour is regeneratively produced, and how Angry Monk and The Ferm are ‘upcycling’ when they incorporate surplus produce.
The workshops: getting stuck in
After Ellie’s dazzling introduction to the event, attendees headed over to the kitchen floor to get stuck in with their chosen activities. We were thrilled with the collaborations in action with each workshop, with the crème de la crème of our sustainable suppliers and the Fooditude team. Here’s what was on offer on the day:
Bread rolling with Chef Alex Bailey from Fooditude and Tom Chatwin from Wildfarmed
Alex Bailey led the workshop to make dough for sourdough bread with Wildfarmed flour. Tom Chatwin was on hand to tell the Wildfarmed story whilst participants were rolling out their bread. We were lucky to have Wildfarmed on board at our event, as a shining example of regenerative farming methods and ethical practice.
Day-to-day Fooditude buys the majority of its flour from Wildfarmed. The flour is regeneratively grown, processed in the UK, and a top-quality ingredient for our chefs to use.
Download the workshop notes here >
Creative zero-waste recipes & cocktails with Antonio Ciaveralla, Mixologist and Operations Manager from Fooditude, and Michael Haskamp, Co-Founder, and Aki Sakamoto from Angry Monk
Antonio and the Angry Monk team led this workshop, teaching attendees how to make two very exciting cocktails: a Breakfast Martini and a Rum, Cinnamon and Pineapple Sour. Both these cocktails incorporated ingredients that were delicious and incorporated surplus produce, such as Discarded Banana Peel Infused Rum.
Day-to day, Fooditude incorporates surplus fruit and veg into its menus, and Angry Monk supplies us with top-notch surplus produce.
Download the recipe for the Breakfast Martini here >
Download the recipe for the Rum, Cinnamon and Pineapple Sour here >
Kimchi making with Rebecca Ghim, Founder and Director of The Ferm
Rebecca is an award-winning innovator, with a brilliant way to tackle systematic food waste. She collects the veg cut-off from Fooditude (and other professional kitchens) and uses them to create fermented products. We also serve Kimchi by The Ferm at several of our client sites. We were delighted to have Rebecca involved with our event, teaching participants to make their very own Kimchi.
Download the workshop notes and recipe here >
It’s a wrap!
After the workshop, attendees got to mingle with Team Fooditude and our collaborators with some drinks and expertly-done canapes by Chef Marianna: made with sustainability and seasonality in-mind.
Team Fooditude were hyped about the event, it was a chance to work closer with our suppliers to promote a more ethical and sustainable way of eating (and the business behind it). Watch this space as we conjure up new sustainability-themed events in the near future. Next time around, we’d love to see you there!
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