COOKINGUPA CELEBRATION

Top chef works her magic to create gourmet dishes from the surplus supermarket food donated to FareShare.. and the meals were a big hit with diners at community centre

AWARD-WINNING Scots chef Giovanna Euseni has backed FareShare Glasgow’s recipe for success by cooking up a delicious meal with the charity’s produce.

The Move On subsidiary keeps hundreds of tonnes of healthy in-date surplus supermarket food out of landfill and diverts it on to the plates of vulnerable Scots.

Giovanna, who was crowned Restaurateur of the Year at the Business Women Scotland Awards last month, lent her skills to the project as part of Move On’s 20th anniversary celebrations.

She said: “Being Italian, having access to good quality food is at the heart of our culture. We waste little and celebrate the simplest of ingredients.

“The work FareShare Glasgow do to help utilise our surplus produce and support new relationships between food and the community is honourable and so I was thrilled to be part of their celebrations.”

Giovanna, owner and chef at Eusebi’s Deli in Glasgow’s west end, cooked shin of beef ravioli with a beef ragu, chicken cacciatore and a side dish of carrot with capers.

Move On executive director John Hinton said: “To have an award-winning restaurateur come to our depot and cook from the surplus food we distribute daily is something we could not turn down.

“We were delighted to welcome her and she spent some really positive time with our staff learning about our charity and the difference we are trying to make.

“We are so grateful to Giovanna for her support and hope that the relationship with our charity will flourish.

“Food waste is such an important issue and what better way to highlight that than have an amazing chef like Giovanna show us what can be created from food that would normally be thrown away?

“When we talk about surplus food, everyone thinks it is out of date but it’s not. FareShare receive quality food that’s supplied at no cost by the food and drink industry.

“It’s provided by most of the big supermarket chains, such as Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Aldi. A lot of the food we receive is fresh, for example fruit and vegetables, meat and dairy.

“It’s only surplus due to things like the end of a promotion, over-ordering of products or packaging errors.”

Giovanna’s dishes got the thumbs-up from diners at a city community centre.

FareShare manager Scott Crawford said: “Giovanna made delicious meals for one of our community food partners, the Heart of Scotstoun Community Centre. It was a real treat for everyone.”