Zero Waste – that is the mantra of sustainable consumption of tomorrow. This is especially true for foodstuffs, which account for a quarter of the residual waste generated in large cities. According to a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the global consumption of foodstuffs costs us 600 billion euros a year. This corresponds to about a third of the food produced for humans. The reasons for this are manifold and vary widely from region to region. In structurally and financially weak countries, a large part of the foodstuffs often spoils during harvesting, storage and transport; In our latitudes, the biggest losses are in trade and especially in the end-users.
“Just the idiot throws it away!”, Is the appropriate culinary statement against the Wegwerfgesellschaft, the Austrian star cook and gastronomic Zero Waste pioneer Tom Riederer not only in his restaurant “TOM am Kochen” in the Styrian Sausal, but four years ago Also published in cookbook form. In it, he tells environmental-conscious hobby cooks numerous tricks, how one from Essenensreten a good meal conjures.
For the so-called “waste products” often contain a great deal of taste (apple dishes, broccoli gel), they can be used to add exciting nuances to the dish (heart, liver, beuschl) or to surprisingly small amuse gueules with an exciting consistency. Also Fergus Henderson’s cult book “Nose to tail”, which was finally published in German this year and was included in the list of the “50 most important cookbooks of all time” by the “Observer”, is a culinary guide for the Zero Waste enjoyment the future.
As is often the case with trend developments, the zero-waste idea also begins to take root within the food and food industry before it is adapted by other industries. And this is especially obvious in this area, because in the gastronomy sector, huge amounts of food waste are produced and can not be returned to direct recycling, eg as animal feed, because of hygiene regulations. The reduction of waste is therefore the top priority, which is no longer limited to individual cooks. The American catering company Bon Appétit, which has made the motto “food service for a sustainable future”, is also consistently working on waste avoidance strategies and is also passing on its growing know-how to other catering establishments.
The first zero-waste restaurant opened in Brighton in the autumn of 2014. In the “Silo”, the end of the food is thought of and produced: always the bin in the eye, the purchase, storage, recipes and portions are planned so that they land as little as possible. What can not be avoided is self-composting and used in our own garden to draw vegetables and close the cycle.
The fast-food restaurant “Sandwich Me In” in Chicago, which not only radically reduced the waste of the production and the food in the restaurant, but also the to-go sale, shows that consistent waste prevention in the gastronomy is not a question of exclusive star kitchens Through compostable packaging materials.
Product designers are also increasingly concerned with the development of sustainable packaging materials. For example, the young British designer Hyunhee Hwang: He developed packaging materials for fruits and vegetables as part of his master thesis at the London University of Arts. It has the shape of a shell, is woven from the roots of the plants (tomatoes, figs and berries) and is intended to ensure the continued process of ripening of the harvested fruit on the way of transportation from the producer to the final consumer. As a “living packaging”, Nurture can be used as a compost for your own balcony plants.
Other key impulses for the avoidance of garbage in the food industry are coming from the USA, where bulk shopping has become a new trend in retail. Particularly environmentally conscious customers are more and more trying to bring their own containers when they shop, and to have the bulk of the bulk of their goods removed from the “bulk bins” in self-service The environmentally conscious, packaging material of avoiding shopping have already mastered our grandparents or great grandparents well.
In Greißlereien and Aunt-Emma-Shops, this was in some cases even up to 40 years ago, before the supermarkets also spread across the country, and producers began to deliver their branded foodstuffs in standard quantities more and more complex. Even if the words are not directly
In Greißlereien and Aunt-Emma-Shops, this was in some cases even up to 40 years ago, before the supermarkets also spread across the country, and producers began to deliver their branded foodstuffs in standard quantities more and more complex. Even if the words are not directly related to each other, the Austrian term “Grisslererei” corresponds to the word “grocery” common in the Anglo-American for such mixed winemaking, where the cult of bulk shopping also began, even if many groceries in the USA had long ago assumed supermarket dimensions Such as the “Rainbow Grocery” in San Francisco, a bio-cooperative that has existed since the mid-1970s, where bulk shopping has long been a matter of course.
The concept of organic and quality at Rainbow Grocery goes hand in hand with a zero waste philosophy: vegetable and fruit waste is composted, the packaging material is consistently minimized. Not only food waste, but also the expensive packaging and the resulting garbage are a major challenge. In Germany alone, 16 million tonnes of packaging are shipped every year. And a large part of this is the one-way packaging of food, which often forces consumers to buy more than they really need. What also often causes food to land in the garbage, because they are often not storable in the household.
In Europe, too, a rethinking begins slowly. “Original Unpacked” is consequently the Aunt-Emma Revival pioneer in Berlin Kreuzberg, where you can find food, sweets, spirits, cosmetics, detergents, books, containers for transport and the kitchen at home, so almost everything you In everyday life so it can purchase without disposable packaging. Even in other cities, food retailers are choosing to offer goods loosely and avoid packaging waste. In most cases, it is smaller stores that consciously resort to the old label “Greißlerei” or “Aunt-Emma-Laden”, in order to distinguish themselves from the conventional supermarket offer, such as “Lunzers Maß-Greißlerei” in Vienna.
In urban agglomeration areas, however, they are often no longer a classic mixture of goods: detergents, socks, training books and the like can hardly be found in the assortment anymore. They are primarily exquisite foods, delicacies from small-scale producers, which would not be able to be distributed over the wholesale market, which land on the shelves; Handmade specialties, rare vegetable varieties and open, unpacked goods, where the customer can decide for himself how much he or she actually needs and wants to buy. With this, Gretellerei and Aunt-Emma-Laden get rid of the long-standing negative connotation of an unpretentious and everyday mint of foodstuffs and consumer goods. They experience an appreciation by becoming brands for shops with selected quality goods, which can be delivered openly and also in small quantities.
There are also so-called misfits highly welcome, vegetables and fruit with optical defects, broken carrots and -spargel, which are sorted out from the classical supermarket sortiment and are disposed of as waste. But also the big chains have recently risen to the eco-train: Among other brands such as “Wunderlinge” at REWE in Austria or “Ünique” at Coop in Switzerland, “non-compliant” fruit and vegetables are now available.
That small-market concepts – small, personal shops for the daily needs – still have good chances in the future, even in the country, is not only the imperative of the waste prevention. Demography also plays a role. The personal contact with sellers and dealers will be given more appreciation, particularly with regard to the older buyer. And it does not lastly make a “communicative” contribution to the prevention of waste. For this reason, it is fast and credible to say that not only yoghurts are to be enjoyed far above the “best before” date – and what is made of old-fashioned, hard-boiled bread Can satisfy even the most spoiled palate.