Zero waste, the way forward

For many years industrialism has been seen as the prosperity of mankind, and also our food industry has been part of this Industrialism. Finally over the last decade we are seeing that industrialism also has a lot of negative influences and not only on our food businesses, but on many global businesses. One of the most impactful negative influences is Waste.

Recycling is an industrial process created to tackle the waste problem, but the process itself also generates a lot of waste, as for example Material, Time, Energy and Money.

Looking into our food business industry >30 % of our food get wasted, 80 % of plastics used in our Food business industry ends up in Landfills, and 40% of our glass and cans also end up in landfills. These are the three biggest wasted materials of our food system, and we haven't even started talking about climate change and soil degradation as becoming even more impactful during the last years.

It's time to rethink our Food and Climate narrative and change to more sustainable eating to impact a shift in our food system for a better and healthier planet.

The first point where each of us can support in decreasing the general food waste, is to create a zero waste strategy, starting at home.

We get our foods from nature, so this means they are whole, with unnecessary packaging or processing. Whole foods are fresh, healthy and if we use them the way nature brings them to us, we can control their waste by using them as whole foods. By doing this we can control the by-products that may occur whilst processing them.

So why would we need all these industrial processed Foods where we cannot see what happens with all these byproducts, then in the industrial food system these all end up as waste.

If we use more whole foods we can maximize the resources and minimize the waste

I would like to share some creative ideas with you, how to support maximization of fresh whole foods and resources with some tips for using by-products and tips for repurposing.

With sustainable creative whole cooking we have the opportunity to reduce food waste towards Zero waste, just by using your imagination and your creativity, and together we then automatically support our planet.

Chutney's

It's summertime, and watermelons are a favorite fruit during these summer months

Normally there is always a huge amount of trim Waste when we peel a Watermelon. Next time when you peel it, take the peels and use a sharp knife to cut of the ultimate outside green skin, to leave you with only the white skin, this white skin chopped in small pieces is a perfect base for a fruity chutney accompanying your next grill session.

I even made a delicious Chutney with Banana Peels, tastes delicious and can accompany many asian spicy dishes. Many chutneys can be made from by-products by just being creative and using your Imagination.

Fruit Pulp

Nowadays many of us are making their own smoothies, as they are healthy and fresh and of course very tasty. What do we do with the leftover fruit pulp or vegetable pulp.

Well why not try to use it in your next base whilst making muffins. It gives your muffins the extra touch in taste, you need less sugar and the fibers left in the pulp are good for your health. Also the fruit and vegetable pulp can be mixed with nuts and seeds, and you can create your own homemade granola..

Avocado

Many of us love avocado’s for their rich and smooth taste and for their high percentage of Monounsaturated fats and vitamines B, E and C. but what do we do with the big stone in the middle after eating the avocado. Why nor dry it and roast it slowly and then use it by grating it as a seasoning over some pasta, grilled vegetables, or even meat and fish, the avocado stone gives a dish a special nutty taste.

Lettuce

Very often when we buy lettuce we have leftovers, and mostly these left over green leaves end up as food waste. Why not use these leaves to make a healthy and tasty green smoothy by mixing them together with some fresh fruits, herbs, or vegetables

Add together with some Water or whatever kind of milk or milk substitute you prefer and your daily leftover smoothy is ready.

Broccoli

Mostly we use the florets and throw away the stems of the broccoli, some of you might have started to use the stems by repurposing them into a soup, well here another idea: cut the broccoli stem up into fine Julienne stripes and season them with salt & sugar in an equal amount, let them marinate under pressure for some time and then rinse them with cold water, the soft Stripes can now be used as a base for a Salad, as for example as a broccoli-coleslaw salad.

Pickles

Many byproducts, left overs and trim waste can be very easily repurposed into pickled vegetables just let your creativity go as mad as you like.

Caramelization

This is a process to use your complete vegetable in a very easy and delicious tasty way

Why peel, cut and boil a carrot, and then season it whilst glazing with Salt, Pepper and even sugar. This might have been a tradition over many years, and is still being used in many restaurants but why not the easy way. Just wash off your carrots and put them on a baking tray, then season them with a sprinkle of olive oil, some salt & pepper and roast them in your oven by 200 degrees C in 20-30 minutes. The vegetables' own sugars will caramelise and give the carrots a beautiful, roasted flavor. You can do this with almost all vegetables, such as Broccoli, Cauliflower, Beetroots, Turnips, asparagus and many many more