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Free Lunch for 5000 In Campaign Against Food Waste

Greta Jonyniate | 17.11.11

Five thousand members of the public are invited to a free hot lunch in Trafalgar Square on Friday 18 November between 12 noon and 2.00pm. All food made entirely from ingredients that would otherwise have been wasted, such as fresh but cosmetically imperfect fruit and vegetables.

Feeding the 5000 will highlight how easy it is to reduce the unimaginable levels of food waste in the UK and internationally, and how governments, businesses and individuals can help. The event is run by the Feeding the 5000 team, in partnership with FareShare, FoodCycle, Love Food Hate Waste, Friends of the Earth and supported by the Mayor of London.

In just two hours, charities, volunteers, and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, will serve a free lunch to 5000 members of the public. The menu will include curry made from ‘mis-shapen’ and wonky vegetables, and a range of cooked dishes prepared live by well known chefs, including Thomasina Miers, Valentine Warner and Arthur Potts Dawson.

The public will be invited to take part in the ‘surplus apple’ pressing and to drink the free juice - with the chance to feed the apple remnants to live pigs in Trafalgar Square, as well as helping to sort through wonky vegetables for delivery to charities. Speakers at the event include the Bishop of London and Rosie Boycott, Chair of London Food.

The event urges the public to sign the Feeding the 5000 pledge calling for action from governments, retailers and food businesses: ‘I pledge to reduce my food waste and I want businesses to do the same’. Those unable to attend the event will be able to pledge through the Feeding the 5000 website (www.feeding5k.org). Around 80 percent of consumers want businesses to tackle food waste: this offers an opportunity for businesses to respond to the challenge in proactive, positive ways.

Food businesses, restaurants and retailers are invited to sign the Business Pledge, agreeing to the principles of the ‘Food Waste Pyramid’, a new online guidance tool developed by the Feeding the 5000 partnership to help food businesses avoid waste according to a step by step process.

Feeding the 5000 is organised by Tristram Stuart, author of Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal (Penguin, 2009), whose campaigning on food waste won him this year’s international environmental award, The Sophie Prize (www.sofieprisen.no).

Stuart explains: “Feeding the 5000 is a wonderful partnership including farmers, charities and the public. The aim of our lunchtime feast is to highlight how food waste can be avoided by putting food to good use i.e. feeding people. We want businesses and the public to sign the Feeding the 5000 pledge to show how everyone has the power – and the responsibility – to help solve the global food waste scandal.”