'Waste not, want not': food for people or landfills?

A summer berries recipe for Summer Pudding

Saint Augustin and the British government have something in common.

Saint Augustin by Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1645

Although it’s a statement that allegedly couldn’t apply to a number of very senior figures in recent government, the saint reputedly said, “Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet.”

Despite 80 percent of parliament declaring in favour of mandatory food waste reporting, it has just admitted it doesn’t want it yet and will be sticking with a voluntary approach. 

Voluntary food waste reporting did get off to a reasonable start. In 2022, over 200 businesses measured and reported the value of their food waste without being pressed to do so. In one of those revered food reports with titles so long they cause the eyes to glaze over, it was found that in 2021 140 businesses made a 17 percent reduction in food waste worth £365 million, not to mention the space saved in landfills. 

But now voluntary reporting has stalled. So, naturally, a government consultant has been brought in. Options to vote on were narrowed down to

1. Come up with a better voluntary agreement

2. Mandatory reporting

3. Do nothing

Obviously 3. was the option settled upon. We mustn’t forget the frailest government in years is facing an election, at the latest on 11th January, 2025, and industrial food producers are a powerful body.

Defra (UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) has apparently decided it would be most fair to stick with voluntary reporting because it appears 39 percent of respondents are too big to worry much about any ensuing challenge (which could be considered a synonym for ‘fine’) they could be facing. 

Also, Cost. Even if it would eventually bring savings to any business small as much as large, introduction of the regulated reporting would come initially at a price. And no-one these days wants to think about a future benefit of anything. No, we want it all, whatever it is, NOW - not at a price recouped only down the line.

In the US, the federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act, generously and imaginatively makes it easier to donate 'apparently wholesome food' by shielding donors and recovery organisations from criminal and civil liability arising from the age, packaging or condition of donated food.

That sensible determination doesn’t apply in the UK. The GlobalFoodBanking Network has proposed to the UK government that it should adopt legislation which establishes clear and comprehensive liability protections for food donors and food recovery organisations that act in good faith, to ensure concern for liability arising out of donating food does not deter potential donors. 

One example of where this could have benefits is the result of the tragedy of the death in 2016 of 15-year old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse from sesame seeds she was allergic to that weren’t listed on a sandwich sleeve. The resulting Natasha’s Law means that in the UK unwrapped and therefore unlabelled breads can no longer be distributed to charities. This despite the fact that Natasha died in 2016, and the law that now prevents unwrapped, unlabelled bread’s distribution didn’t come into effect until six years later in October 2021, during which period such breads continued to be distributed to charities and no further deaths were reported.

Although Britain’s major supermarkets and bakeries sell artisan loaves unwrapped, therefore without a list of their ingredients, any unsold must now be dispatched to landfills. Despite the GlobalFoodBanking Network resolution accepted in other countries, the British government has no protection on its agenda for charities whose distribution of nutritious food simultaneously reduces food waste. 

The world wastes roughly 2.5 billion tons of food every year. Even with its Good Samaritan Act, Americans discard 40 to 60 million tons of usable food - more than any other country and 40 percent of the entire US food supply. While 41 million Americans face food insecurity, food is the largest component of municipal landfills, the equivalent of 130 billion meals.

Despite being 40 times smaller than the US, in 2018 the UK produced around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste, according to Waste and Resources Action Programme’s latest figures. WRAP estimated that 6.4 million tonnes of this was still edible - the equivalent of more than 15 billion meals in a nation where 4.7 million Brits live in food-insecure households. That’s 7 percent of the country. Charles Dickens would be appalled.

If courgettes/zucchini (I’m back to the misspelling) feature as your potential food waste, highly likely this time of year if you’re growing them, see the cooking options from last week. But bread, going stale quite fast, is easily wasted. Make some of it into breadcrumbs for your store cupboard. Panko are the best, in my view. These Japanese breadcrumbs are created by cutting the crusts off stale bread, grating it or pulsing it quickly in a processor with only 1 or 2 pulses to keep it large. Then spread the crumbs over a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 150C/350F for 5-7 minutes till crisp but still pale. Cool before storing.

Those crumbs come in handy for the Queen of Puddings, a baked, breadcrumb-thickened egg mixture, spread with jam and topped with meringue and named perhaps in honour of Queen Victoria or possibly because Mrs Beeton, Britain’s equivalent in the kitchen of Betty Crocker, referred to it as “the queen of bread puddings”.

The most common use for stale bread is bread pudding. At this time of year, instead of adding raisins, load it with berries. But Summer Pudding makes finer use of stale bread. Don’t be put off by the thought it might be wodgy. You are unlikely to realise the casing is bread, soaked as it is in scented fruit juice.

Serves 8

300g/ 10½ oz strawberries
250g/8¾ oz blackberries
100g/3½ oz redcurrants
500g/17 oz raspberries
Or a total of 1.25kg/2lb 12oz mixed fresh berries
175g/6oz golden caster/superfine sugar
7 slices or more of day-old white bread from a square loaf

Put the sugar and 3 tablespoons of water into a large pan. Gently heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring a few times then boil for 1 minute. Pour in all the berries except for the strawberries and stew over low heat for 3 minutes, stirring carefully a few times to soften the berries but keeping them whole.

Set a sieve and drain the fruit over a soup plate then set the sieve aside on another plate.

Line a 1.25-litre pudding basin with two layers of clingfilm, overlapping the edges with enough extra film to fold it back over the basin once filled. Cut the crusts off the bread then slice 4 pieces into half making 2 slightly angled oblique rectangles, 2 slices into quarters making 4 triangles each, and leave one slice whole.

Dip the whole piece into the berry juice then press it into the bottom of the dish. Repeat with the rectangles and press them into the sides of the pudding basin to join up and create a casing. Make sure there are no gaps between the dampened pieces.

Spoon in the cooked berries in layers, adding strawberries between each layer. Dip the triangles into the juice and lay on top of the berries, trimming off any overhang. Set aside any remaining juice. Draw the clingfilm up and over the pudding and set a side plate on top. Weight it down with cans or weights and chill overnight or for 6 hours.

To serve, remove the weights and plate, unseal the pudding and put a serving plate upside-down inside the cling film. Flip the pudding basin over to release the pudding onto the plate. Drizzle over any remaining juice and serve with cream.