Irish restaurants face €125 million food waste bill
A new report from Unilever has revealed that there is a staggering amount of food waste in the Irish food services industry
Print19 October 2011
Chef Dylan McGrath helped bring Unilever Food Solutions Ireland’s food waste research to life last month by creating a ‘Great Irish Waste’ menu. This took food ingredients that had been thrown out, rejected or deemed inedible and turned them into delicious restaurant-standard fare
Irish restaurants lose €125 million a year by throwing away 63,670 tonnes of food; enough food waste to cover Croke Park’s pitch eight times over.
New research from Unilever Food Solutions Ireland shows over half (53%) of food wasted in restaurants is generated during preparation. However Irish diners are responsible for most of the food wasted out-of-home (65%) with one in two people (48%) admitting to regularly over-ordering and leaving food behind.
This staggering finding was revealed at an industry event where, for the first time, Unilever Food Solutions invited the biggest players in Ireland’s foodservice industry along with sustainability experts to take part in United Against Waste, a campaign calling for the foodservice industry to join forces and work with chefs, restaurants and consumers to take action and address the issue of reducing avoidable food waste with a single voice
Unilever Food Solutions Ireland commissioned research among 100 Irish chefs and operators via the Restaurant Association of Ireland (RAI). This found the majority (85%) of Irish chefs and operators are concerned about the amount of food wasted by their business.
To download the Unilever’s full World Menu Report, visit www.unileverfoodsolutions.ie.
Delicious recipes make a meal out of food waste
The following ‘Great Irish Waste’ recipes were created by Dylan McGrath, chef proprietor of Rustic Stone and MasterChef Ireland judge in partnership with Mark McCarthy, business development chef of Unilever Food Solutions Ireland. A demonstration of how to make these tasty options was held at Unilever Food Solutions Ireland recent United Against Waste industry event.
Shot Glass Fennel Puree
200g fennel juice
2 spoonfuls crème fraiche
500g chopped fennel
A bunch chopped dill
Salt
Sugar
In a bowl, place 200ml fennel juice, all of the chopped fennel, some salt and sugar. Place pan on hot stove, pour contents of the bowl into the pot, cooking it really quickly and place lid on immediately. Cook on a very high heat until the fennel is transparent and cooked. When the fennel is cooked add the crème fraiche and reduce the heat. Add in the chopped dill and cook for 30 seconds. Blitz in a jug blender, pass through a fine shinoi with a ladle. Pass on to a cool tray and refrigerate straight away.
Fennel Sorbet
Fennel juice
Sugar
Star Anise
Lemon juice
Lemon Puree
Skins of 6 lemons chopped very finely
3.5 litres water
200g sugar
Cut lemons and slice very finely. Cover the lemon skin in a litre of water each time and bring from cold to the boil to remove the harshness of the lemon, each time ensuring to pass off the skin, putting back in to the pan with more water. After the lemon has been cooked three times, add 500ml water, 200g sugar, reduce down by half, until desired consistency is reached, blitz with jug blender and pass through a fine shinoi using a ladle.
Beetroot soup with orange, avocado and raw grated beetroot
8 beetroot
2 oranges
2 avocado
A bunch of dill
2 organic beetroot (for garnish)
Take 8 of the beetroots and juice in a juicer. Add dill and orange zest, warm in the beetroot juice. Place to one side to infuse the flavour. Segment the oranges. Place to one side, grate the raw beetroot. Dice avocado, add lemon juice place to one side
To assemble: Take the avodao and orange segmentsand chopped dill and grated beetroot. Fold together and spoon into the bottom of the bowl, pass you infused soup through a fine shinoi add pour on top.
Hot potato soup with mushrooms, thyme and white truffle oil, garlic
400gold mash potato
500g full fat milk
250g butter
Ground white pepper
In a large bowl place mash potato, all of the butter, white pepper, and stir in milk. Blend the soup in a jug blender, serve in a warm jug.
1 bottle white truffle oil
10 large sliced button mushrooms
2 sprigs thyme
1 clove garlic
100g olive oil
50g butter
6 peid de muton
Clean mushrooms, keeping the trimmings for the mushroom powder. Pick off the thyme, peel the garlic,add sliced button mushrooms, butter and olive oil to a hot pan.
Add trimmings from mushrooms on a tray in an 80 degree oven overnight. Grind to a powder in a coffee grinder.
To assemble: Place the fried button mushrooms and peid de muton in a bowl, pour soup on top finish with mushroom powder.
Salmon Trim
2 bread rolls sliced thinly
100g olive oil
1kg salmon trimming
300ml olive oil
Salt
White pepper
200g crème fraiche
200g Philadelphia cream cheese
1 bunch chervil
1 bunch tarragon
1 bunch dill
1 bunch parsley
Zest of 1 lemon, very fine
2 Cucumbers, peeled and seeded
150g mayonnaise
Heat a tray in a 250 degree oven. Into a bowl, place all of the salmon trimming, 100ml olive oil, salt, and white pepper. Place the salmon onto the tray in the oven, roasting for 6-7mins. When salmon is cooked remove from the heat.Slice bread very thinly and place on tray, drizzle with olive oil, toast in the oven at 140 degrees until crispy and golden brown. Remove the salmon from the skin and bones and flake into 2 separate piles. When all the salmon is flaked, split into 2 bowls, in one bowl add 100g mayonnaise, in the other cream cheese and crème fraiche. In the crème fraiche bowl, add chopped chervil, chopped tarragon, dill and parsley and lemon zest. Add the salmon to the toast, and topped with sliced cucumber.
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