Would you be willing to try jungle gelato or banana peel cake? A new campaign is seeking to inspire people to reduce their food waste.
Photo: 123RF
Love Food Hate Waste was launched today, with the aim of reducing the more than 122,000 tonnes of food thrown away In New Zealand per year - at a cost of $872 million.
It is a three-year collaboration between the Ministry for the Environment and 59 local councils, and its national coordinator, Jenny Marshall, said it aimed to inspire busy people with recipes to make their food budget stretch and minimise waste.
"They're looking for ideas to make things that still taste delicious when maybe that bread has gone a little bit stale, or, maybe the apples have gone a bit soft and your children don't want to eat them."
She said 18 million bananas ended up in the landfill every year.
"And actually we've now got a recipe up on our website for banana peel cake, which is only made with the peels, would you believe."
Banana peel cake calls for 6 banana peels - brown ones are fine. Photo: SUPPLIES/WasteMINZ
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Ms Marshall said her favourite recipe was jungle gelato - a concoction made by blending the fruit that went into children's lunches, and then came home again uneaten at the end of the day - mixed with a tablespoon of Raro for sweetness.
"(It's) turned something that most people would say 'oh well look, that needs to go into the bin', into a treat that the children actually looked forward to."
The campaign included local projects such as a disco soup in Otago where leftovers go into a communal meal, and recipe cards to show how food can be used.
It is also collaborating with other organisations to use surplus fruit from garden trees to feed the homeless, she said.