fruttini

These are amazing desserts from The Artisan Co-operative: gelato inside the very skin of the fruit its made from including lemons, figs, prickly pears, plums, peanuts and dates.

Now that gives me an idea...

Food Cycle

Food Cycle is a charity that

combines volunteers, surplus food and a free kitchen space to create nutritious meals and positive social change in the community

The food surplus comes from food retailers which is then used to feed those in need in the local community.

Since 2008 nearly 8000 kg of food has been collected and turned into over 14000 meals.

It's a brilliant concept that simultaneously address a number of vital issues in today's society. just the type of thing to get involved with. You can volunteer at any one of four locations in London and in another nine cities around the UK and I would urge you to do.

Bite N Write

Seems like I missed out on another good food blogging event today. This time it was Bite 'n' Write, in Brumingham.

It was billed as

a day of food blogging workshops, food and mingling with fellow food bloggers

I really must make more an effort to get back into the foodblogosphere following the lost Wolverhampton months. More on that and plans for the future soon, I hope.

Feeding the 5k - TOMORROW!

Tomorrow the second Feeding the 5k event will take place in Trafalgar Square in London.

Feeding the 5000 will show 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.

An absurd amount of perfectly good food is wasted every year in the UK and it drives me nuts because it's almost entirely avoidable! In my opinion, there's absolutely no reason to waste food.

I'm gutted I can't go, especially as I turned up too late for the one in 2009 :-(

I urge you to go along if you can and to pledge your support.

Learn more about why this is so important: http://www.feeding5k.org/

Crumbs...literally

Major disaster today. I'd been planning a take on a pineapple upside down cake for about a week and finally got round to making it. However, it quite literally didn't turn out as expected.

As I was turning the cake out, I dropped it all over the side. Resulting in a heap of cakey-goodness. Edible but not presentable.

I'll have to give it another go and hopefully post a slightly more successful attempt soon.

FruitShare

I learnt about FruitShare today.

Find a good home for surplus orchard fruit

Fruit share is an initiative to encourage the local distribution of surplus garden or orchard-grown fruit that would otherwise go to waste. Whether you are a private individual or a commercial orchard, simply register to add the details of your available fruit.

The site is split up into "Fruit Sharers" and "Fruit Seekers" and you use the site accordingly. Essentially the site lets you either get rid of or find fruit straight from the orchard!

Brilliantly simple. It'll be perfect when I finally get round to starting the preserving I've been meaning to do for a while now.

Too Good to Waste

The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) has just launched a new campaign, Too Good to Waste, to combat food waste in restaurants by encourage people to ask for doggy bags.

Amazingly for every restaurant meal served in the UK, ~0.5kg of food waste is generated. This SRA campaign is currently running in London and they are offering diners, and restaurants, a viable alternative to wasting food by providing over 25,000 doggy boxes to participating restaurants.

All you have to do is check to see if the restaurant is part of the campaign - check on the website and or spot the sticker in their window - then if there are any leftovers just ask to take them with you.

A completely fuss-free humiliation-less way of making more of a meal out. I encourage you to support the effort, if you can. And let's hope it goes nationwide soon.