“This is how you change the world,” said chef Massimo Bottura as he shook out a package of wasted pasta in the kitchen of the Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy. It was he, a tireless defender of the fight against food waste and founder of the NGO Food for Soul, who inspired young people Leif Friedmann and Jorge Aguilar López to create the company Eat wasted. This company was born in Denmark and is dedicated to marketing pasta made from bread waste, “one of the most wasted foods in the world,” the company states on its social networks. The success of the product created by Friedmann and López has the approval not only of Bottura, but also of chef René Redzepi, who after trying a dish of wasted pasta suggested to the young people that they open his own restaurant.
The company has two bases. The original in Copenhagen, Denmark, and a second one opened last year in Milan, Italy. The goal for the future is to have a presence in as many European cities as possible. At the moment, the pasta is sold wholesale to restaurants or can be contracted as a catering service for events. Its price varies from 7 to 9 euros per kilo. For every kilogram sold, a portion of pasta is donated to a homeless person. Very soon, the company assures, a 500g container will be available to the public that can be purchased online from its website.
“The food industry is failing,” the Eat Wasted team said in a statement. “A large amount of the food produced ends up in the trash while a billion people go hungry.” In its latest report on the Food Waste Index, the UN warned that the global average of waste per person is 132 kilos each year. Cumulative food waste worldwide is 1 billion tons and it is estimated that one fifth of the food produced ends up in the trash.
Food waste represents a serious problem on a social level, but it also generates consequences on an economic and environmental level. It is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is almost five times more than the aviation sector. The cost of food loss and waste to the global economy is estimated at approximately $1 trillion. In Spain, more than three million tons of food are wasted every year, an average of 72 kilograms per person.
In response to this problem, laws have already been passed in countries such as Mexico and Denmark with the aim of reducing food waste. In Italy, movements such as Slow Food and Food for Soul are fighting to change consumption habits and discover new ways to use unused food. Last January in Spain, the Council of Ministers approved the draft Law on the Prevention of Food Losses and Waste. The norm was sent to Congress to begin its parliamentary processing.
