2 days Ago
STUDENTS at an award-winning hospitality school in Colchester have been given top tips from a Michelin-trained chef. Essex University's Edge Hotel School students learnt how to cut food waste with the help of Rowen Halstead. As part of national Food Waste Action Week, second-year students attended a special workshop led by chef and food waste campaigner Rowen .
He has worked at top restaurants, including Cambridge’s two-star Michelin Midsummer House. During the session, Rowen shared eye-opening statistics about food waste in the hospitality industry, telling students that 40 per cent of food in restaurant kitchens is thrown away rather than eaten. To inspire them to think creatively about reducing waste, he demonstrated how to make pasta using stale bread, ricotta cheese from leftover milk, and pesto from surplus salad leaves.
The workshop was part of a wider initiative at Edge Hotel School. The students have also been working with Colchester Food Bank and the food industry campaign Guardians of Grub to promote waste reduction ideas. “It’s really important that the next generation are conscious of the issue of food waste, but also that they know what they can do to prevent it,” Rowen said.
“Small changes in a restaurant’s approach can make a huge difference.” Sustainability lecturer Dimitri Lera, who organised the event, said he was proud of how students had embraced the challenge. “Students are the people who will make change happen in the future,” he said.
“Hopefully, they will become more sustainable professionals within the industry – I’m really proud of the work they’ve done.” One of those students, Jessie Jacobs, has been helping to spread the sustainability message on campus. She and her classmates created a social media reel to encourage their peers to think about food waste.
“It’s shocking to learn how much gets wasted,” Jessie said. “In future, I’d like to be able to look at items on a menu which tend to get wasted and make changes to stop that from happening.”.
