The amount of food waste generated in Scotland is truly shocking… but even more concerning is what is done with that waste.
The Scottish Government says that almost one million tonnes of food waste is thrown away in Scotland each year, most from households.
Restaurants, cafes, shops, supermarkets all generate food waste on a huge scale too.
Why? In my view, there’s too little education about what else can be done with food waste in households, and in food premises; all too often the leftovers are just just thrown in the bin and forgotten about.
And, for food establishments, the restrictions within waste management regulations mean they have very few options but to throw it out.
I grew up in the Ukraine where my family planted our own vegetables, cared for them, harvested them, ate some and preserved everything that was left… by fermenting or pickling them, so that we would have a ready-made supply of food to eat throughout the winter. Nothing was wasted.
I relocated to Scotland in 2008 and quickly realised that, despite the almost endless list of benefits of fermented food, it was not common practice here. I started Naked Kimchi in 2022 and now we supply many of Glasgow and Edinburgh’s best-known cafes.
The essence of fermenting food is about reducing waste, and keeping food production simple and inexpensive.
However, to produce authentic, quality kimchi here is expensive; the initial products are expensive and the production process is costly and time consuming. This makes it difficult to keep prices low for customers without compromising quality.
Kimchi is made from parts of vegetables that are often cast aside, such as broccoli leaves and stems, or carrot peels. These leftovers are generated in almost every cafe and restaurant in the country, and most households.
So we’ve started a pilot project with one of our cafe partners, Sprigg Glasgow, to demonstrate how we can better join the dots when it comes to waste, think more innovatively and most importantly, reduce waste.
We regularly collect the vegetables left over from their food preparation and we’ll use it to make our Kimchi, thereby reducing their waste and improving our supply chain.
This is a small-scale example of how I believe we need to think smarter when it comes to food waste. This is not about kimchi specifically, it’s about the wider problem that our situation represents.
As a nation we are over-producing, over-spending, under-preserving and under-using our food products.
I believe people in Scotland need support with creative, healthy, inexpensive and simple ways to preserve and use as much of the food that they buy as possible.
Within the food industry, I believe that large-scale partnerships need to be formed between organisations across the whole food supply chain to help reduce waste, reduce costs, increase quality and deliver better for customers.
It’s time to stop accepting this level of food waste, think smarter and make a change that will deliver benefits to the health, sustainability and economy of the country.
Katerina Hayes is founder and CEO of fermented food company Naked Kimchi
Agenda is a column for outside contributors. Contact: agenda@theherald.co.uk
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