Food waste is a significant issue that plagues our society, with a large portion of it coming from the restaurant industry. Excess and unused inventory from restaurants often end up in the trash, contributing to the massive amount of food wasted each year. Carla Martinesi, the founder of the food-rescue app Chomp, is working to change this by connecting users to businesses selling their excess food at discounted prices.
Chomp is a unique app that sorts businesses based on the user’s location, allowing them to reserve and pick up items such as pastries, bread, and beer that would otherwise go to waste. By rescuing perfectly good food from landfill, Chomp has saved an estimated 20 tonnes of food since its inception in 2021. Martinesi, who has a background in the food and beverage industry, was inspired to create the app after witnessing the staggering amount of food wastage firsthand.
One of the ways Chomp is making a difference is through collaborations with chefs like Chris Czerwinski from Soho House. Together, they have organized events like The Rescued Feast, where surplus food is transformed into delicious meals for hundreds of people. The challenge lies in creating a menu based on the available scraps, requiring creativity and resourcefulness from the chef’s team.
For The Rescued Feast, ingredients like egg whites, bananas, and prawns were repurposed into dishes like banana bread with Italian meringue and prawn ravioli. The event received generous donations from various businesses, including white fish fillets, moth beans, jackfruit chunks, spices, beer, fruit, and chocolate shavings. The buffet was a sophisticated affair, showcasing the potential of discarded food to create gourmet meals.
While events like The Rescued Feast are successful in highlighting the value of surplus food, they are not sustainable for daily restaurant operations due to the intensive planning and organization required. Chef Czerwinski and Martinesi acknowledge the limitations of such events but are committed to making them a series over several months. By raising awareness and promoting creative solutions to food waste, they hope to inspire others to take action in reducing food wastage in Hong Kong and beyond.