Preston’s first ever Disco Soup!

On Sunday 23rd August around 300 members of the public will be invited to peel, chop, stir and shake to the beat as we cook and eat a fabulous feast made entirely from food that would otherwise have gone to waste. The event is part of the ‘4 Elements of Summer’ Festival, organised by the Mystery Tea House of Cannon Street, Preston.

The day will bring the community together through performance, art, music and interactive education. The “Disco Soup” cooking party will highlight the issues of food waste and food poverty. We’ll be joined by a cavalcade of talented local chefs to support the public in making a huge range of delectable dishes out of ingredients destined for the dump.

So far we have chef, food activist and writer, Gill Watson, and Preston City Council’s Community Nutrition Worker, Alison Watts. Alison regularly delivers cookery workshops to community groups across the city and she will be cooking with the public and sharing recipes and strategies to combat food waste within the home.

If any local chef wants to help at the event and take part, please get in touch – you’re more than welcome! Also food donations for the event would be great too!

The Mayor of Preston, Councillor Margaret McManus, will be attending the event and said a few words:

“I’m really excited to be attending Disco Soup. This is an unusual but important event that makes people think about the whole issue of food waste.

“What a brilliant idea on how to use something that would just be thrown away – we should all take note and try it for ourselves!”

Disco Soup is part of a series of events inspired by the international campaigning organisation Feedback Global (previously Feeding the 5000). The event aims to raise awareness about the shocking amount of food that is wasted every year in the UK and around the world. By using “waste food” ingredients to cook up a delicious community meal, participants can see that the vast amount of food that is wasted is perfectly edible, and are offered the chance to find out why so much food is wasted, and how they can help to stop it. The event aims to be overwhelmingly positive, including a range of actions and solutions to reduce food waste and food poverty.

The event will also initiate a food waste campaign for Lancashire, which will link up all the great work that is already being done and involve training Food Champions who will organize pop-up Real Junk Food cafes across the county.

The Real Junk Food Project is a community interest company sourcing food that would otherwise go to waste, cooking it up into healthy nutritious meals, and serving it to anyone and everyone on a pay-as-you-feel basis. https://www.facebook.com/TheRealJunkFoodProject