FoodCycle

FoodCycle Newsflash
March 2013

In the excitement of the long Easter weekend we’re afraid this newsletter comes a tad late – sorry folks. On the plus side it’s now gloriously sunny outside (well, it is here...!), and we’ve lots of exciting things to update you on from what was a busy busy March. Read on!

FoodCycle hits the big time!

We’ve hit the screen and the airwaves this month! Our Hub Programme and Community Cafe were both showcased on the BBC in March as part of Comic Relief.

First up we had a visit from Sara Cox and BBC Radio 1 who spoke with service users and volunteers at our Islington Hub, which works with the local MIND centre to provide healthy meals for people affected by mental health issues in Islington. You can listen to that clip HERE!

Next up we had a visit from star chef Tom Aikens and the BBC’s Great British Menu to our Pie in the Sky Community Café in Bromley-by-Bow, where we support volunteers to develop the skills and confidence needed to get jobs. Tom spoke with some of our wonderful volunteers who kindly helped him to build a prop for his dish and they picked up some super kitchen tips in the process! You can catch it on iPlayer HERE – we’re featured from around the 12-minute mark.

A Feaster Feast!

A big thanks to everyone who came along to our pop-up event with Love Food Hate Waste and Valentine Warner last Thursday! It was a roaring success with lots of money raised for FoodCycle. Thanks to Valentine Warner, who created our starter - a delicious beetroot with ravigote sauce - and to our very own catering team, who made the rest of our wonderful dishes including stuffed onions and a sublime dessert of poached pears. We’ll have some recipes up on our blog soon so keep an eye out and we've got photos up HERE.

We're expanding! Could you be involved...?

Earlier this year we received funding through Nesta's Innovation in Giving fund to support the expansion of our model to towns and cities across the UK. As part of this, we’ll be piloting growing new Hubs across the UK through a social franchising approach and we'd love to speak to organisations that would be interested in partnering with us. If you're interested in running a Hub and would like to discuss this further please contact our Head of Programmes, Kieran Daly by emailing kieran@foodcycle.org.uk.

FoodCycle Round-Up

In other news from our Hubs across the UK this month:

• See our Bath Hub in action on ITV West, doing amazing things by turning surplus food into tasty meals!
• Our LSE Hub have been featured in Malaysian newspaper, New Straits Times. Read about their work providing healthy meals for service users at the Holy Cross Centre Trust including homeless people, people affected by mental ill health and refugees and asylum seekers.
• Well done to our Islington Hub for their amazing fundraiser ‘Dig In’, a pop-up restaurant using surplus ingredients, cooked into a majestic feast by Julie Friend!
• Why do people volunteer with FoodCycle? Here’s why! – check out this awesome video made by one of our volunteers! 

Finally - fancy a vermouth-tasting workshop in aid of FoodCycle? Well the kind folks at Mele e Pere have an evening perfect for you! Check it out and please do come along.

That’s all for this (well, last…) month FoodCyclers – hope you had a great long weekend and let’s hope for the onset of spring someday soon!

FoodCycle Newsflash
February 2013

Hope you're all keeping warm in these bitter winter months FoodCyclers! We’ll begin this month with a shiny new video about how FoodCycle works: just a minute and a half long but a super summary of what we do! Take a peek below or here and please share it around.

The video was made for us for free by the very kind and talented folks at Maverick Digital so a huge thank you to them for their support!

Feaster pop-up with Valentine Warner

We're very excited to have launched our March pop-up restaurant fundraiser with the fantastic Valentine Warner and Love Food Hate Waste. On March 28th we'll be creating a tasty feast using surplus ingredients, served at the stunning Museum of the Order of St John in London. Tickets are selling fast but there are still some left - get yours HERE and come and start the Easter weekend in style with lots of tasty dishes all in support of FoodCycle!

Spotlight on... FoodCycle Liverpool!

This month we shine the spotlight on our super Liverpool Hub, where volunteers cook at Asylum Link and the Kensington Methodist Church, serving healthy meals for asylum seekers and refugees, and for a women's group in the community. FoodCycle founder and CEO Kelvin popped along to see them earlier this month - you can read all about his visit HERE where they cooked up a 3-bean chilli and a delicious pear crumble!

Ken Hom in support of FoodCycle!

We're pretty chuffed this month that chef, author and broadcaster Ken Hom has come across our work and had these kind words to say: “FoodCycle is the wave of the future as we look to cut food waste on every level and to help communities to help themselves. Turning surplus food into good meals is a very worthy effort by FoodCycle that we must all support!”. 

A huge thanks to Ken for his support - we're the wave of the future!

FoodCycle Round-Up

So what else has been going on at our 14 Hubs and our Community Cafe?

Well our Islington Hub are hosting a super fundraising event with BBC Masterchef winner Julie Friend on Monday 4th March, with a three-course vegetarian meal and engaging speakers on food waste. Tickets for that one are HERE - come along!

Meanwhile our Bath Hub have been having a blast with a pancake party, FoodCycle LSE having been coming up with some amazing dishes including welsh rarebit and a root veg gratin, our Bristol Hub are on the lookout for new volunteers (get in touch if that could be you!), and lots more!

In case you missed it...

Some interesting articles you might've missed this month on food waste and food poverty:

• 'Food banks: who is feeding whom?' (The Guardian)
• Valentine Warner: 'We don't have the right to waste food' (The Telegraph)
• 'No more excuses. The only defensible option is to go vegetarian' (The Guardian)
• 'UN official alarmed by rise of food banks in UK' (The Independent)
• '2013 Food Trend #1 - Sustainability: We stop wasting food' (Forbes)

That’s all for this month FoodCyclers – have a lovely March and hopefully Spring will arrive soon to warm us all up!

You're invited to FoodCycle and Love Food Hate Waste's Feaster pop-up with Valentine Warner! 

Start the Easter weekend in style and make your platter matter! FoodCycle and Love Food Hate Waste are joining forces on Thursday March 28th to create a delicious banquet with the fantastic (and strongly anti-waste!) Valentine Warner.

From 7pm onwards we’re going to be turning surplus ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away into a stunning menu at the unique Museum of the Order of St John, right in the heart of London. In this grand hall you’ll get to sit down to wonderful dishes devised by the fantastic Valentine Warner and our FoodCycle catering team, with the full menu to be announced soon!

Tickets are on sale HERE for just £26, which includes an aperitif and our five-course vegetarian banquet. All proceeds from this event will go to FoodCycle, to help create more meals for people at risk from food poverty and social isolation. In the run-up to the event Love Food Hate Waste will be releasing lots of super anti-waste tips, designed to help you reduce food waste and save yourself money so look out for these on #FabFeaster!

If you’ve any questions about the event, get in touch with us on 020 7377 8771 or email kim@foodcycle.org.uk. We're also looking for volunteers to help out - as waiting staff on the night, and in the kitchen on the 27th and 28th. If you'd be able to help please contact Kim on kim@foodcycle.org.uk.

Our menu will be created by the team behind FoodCycle’s Pie in the Sky Café in Bromley-by-Bow, which supports volunteers to develop the skills and confidence needed to gain employment. They also teach them how to cook – passing on that vital knowledge so they can create tasty meals for their family and friends. If you’d like to know more about the café (we also cater!) then get in touch with nicola@foodcycle.org.uk. 

Hope to see you there to enjoy lots of tasty food in support of FoodCycle!