‘RUBBISH’ food could take on a whole new meaning at a cafe which will serve only waste produce destined for landfill.
Bolton could soon be home to the latest Real Junk Food Project cafe – serving meals made from ingredients deemed past their best by restaurants and supermarkets.
There are no prices and punters at Real Junk Food Project cafes – which have also sprung up in more than 40 destinations in the UK including Wigan, Birmingham and Brighton – ‘pay what they feel’.
The Bolton Diggers group is holding a public meeting about the possibility of launching a cafe in Bolton at the Friends Meeting House in Silverwell Street at 7pm on March 25.
The Diggers, who believe in ‘the commons’ – developing shared assets, resources and spaces within the community – gave away soup made from waste vegetables for six months from December 2013 in Churchgate.
The group now supports Bolton Community Kitchen, which provides hot meals at the YMCA in Deansgate every Tuesday evening for people who are homeless or facing food poverty.
Alan Brown, secretary of Bolton Diggers, said: “I am certain this could work in Bolton town centre.
“We are looking for a location to have the cafe, and hope the meeting will throw something up.
“The aim of the project, really, is to highlight food waste in a practical way with a view to stopping it completely.
“While the project is primarily environmental it is feeding a lot of people in food poverty and developing stronger communities.”
Yorkshire chef Adam Smith, who launched the Real Junk Food Project, will speak at the meeting and attendees can also sample soup made from vegetables which were destined for landfill.
Mr Smith became preoccupied with the problem of food waste while working on farms in Australia and created the first Pay As You Feel cafe in Armley, Leeds, in December 2013.
He said: “It can happen everywhere – it is happening all over the world and there are now 110 cafes globally, in places with a complete variety of demographics and locations.
“The initiative pulls people to it – food is a very powerful way of bringing people together."
In the last 12 months, the projects have saved close to 50 tonnes of food from landfill and fed thousands of people.
Mr Brown added: “I have visited the original cafe in Leeds several times, and what they have done is such an achievement.”
For more information: call Alan Brown on 07948032155.
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