Street-smart ways to limit food waste
It’s time to admit it. Whether unknowingly or out of pure laziness, we throw away perfectly edible food all the time. We buy too much, we don’t store things correctly, we lampoon ugly vegetables, and we’re not making every possible forkful go the distance.
Auckland chef Kyle Street returned to Wellington, his hometown, on Wednesday for Wellington On a Plate to teach 120 people how to use the traditionally unloved cuts of food at Prefab.
Street and co-chefs Jordan MacDonald, Ryan Brooks, Kristan Mulcahy and Ronnie Yong crafted an All Taste, No Waste menu, outlining four important lessons when considering food waste:
Think sustainably Street says: ‘‘There are secondary fish species that aren’t at risk, but because they’re cheap, they’re looked upon in the wrong way.’’
Boarfish isn’t exactly the sexiest fish when compared with the likes of salmon and bluefin tuna, but it is plentiful and delicious. Make boarfish kokonda with avocado, coconut cream, and a bruised tomato jelly – as these chefs did – and you’re away laughing.
The second small dish was the buttermilk fried snapper wings with parsley mayo. For something that is quite awkward to eat, I inhaled the snapper wings faster than anyone else at my table.
Be frugal Street says: ‘‘If you’re cooking duck; go nose to tail. Use everything, including the offal.’’
Using the whole beast is a good rule-of-thumb for the ecoconscious. Ducks were unlucky enough to be the beast of choice for our feast.
Street started with two small dishes: duck leftover tortellini with duck bone consomme and duck liver parfait with donut holes.
The main was pork stuffed Peking duck with hoisin, spring onion bottoms and pickled cucumber peels.
Don’t biff the ugly stuff Street says: ’’I want to get people talking about our perception that a perfectly-formed parsnip is better than an ugly parsnip - which is rubbish.’’
France has been spearheading the anti-food waste movement, and New Zealand is following suit, but it’s long overdue that we commit to putting flavour before beauty.
Re-claiming ‘ugly’ produce permeated the third section, as Street served gigantic whole roast carrots with pumpkin seed dukkah and smoked yoghurt.
Avoid waste The grand finale was a stale slider bun and brown banana pudding with barista milk soft serve.
Our table somehow ended up with an extra slice of pudding, but I couldn’t tell you where that went.
Countdown sponsored the event, and all proceeds from the $99 tickets went to Wellington food rescue charity, Kaibosh.