Another champion for reducing food waste in the kitchen is Chef Bertrand Simon. A blogger, author and teacher in his native France, Chef Simon has gained popularity online for uploading free recipes that emphasize the use of fresh, locally-sourced ingredients, simple and healthy food combinations, and menus which feature items that people tend to throw in the trash.
Today food waste is a global problem. Every year, 1.3 billion tons of food are lost or wasted worldwide. That’s one-third of all food produced for human consumption.
To reduce food waste in the kitchen and to inspire others to do the same, Chef Bertrand Simon shares anti-gaspi,or anti-food-waste, recipes like soup made with radish greens, which many people cut away from the vegetable and throw out, and stew made with old mustard sauce and meat scraps. He also writes about the benefits of low-water, urban gardening and eliminating foods, which he says are costly in environmental terms, and urges political and business changes along with individual action.
“If everyone realized the role and influence of their food choices, it would positively impact other citizens of the world,” Simon says.
Like Chef Simon, Chef Katsuhiro Nakamura, an FAO National Goodwill Ambassador for Japan, shows consumers how to reduce food waste when they cook. This is particularly important to Nakamura, as in his home country of Japan six million tonnes of food is wasted annually.
“As a chef, I consider it important to appreciate both the food itself and the hard work of those who produce it,” Chef Nakamura says.
Nakamura uses a no-waste fish soup with parts which are often discarded (head and bones) and serves it at various events to show how easy it can be to cook up delicious meals while saving food at the same time. He also runs seminars to show chefs and service staff at hotels how they can reduce their food waste and encourages restaurant-goers to take home uneaten food in “doggy bags.”
