'Waste not, want not' rings truer than ever today - cue scrappy cooking, the return of the 'sniff test', doggy bags and gleaning for food banks.
The global food waste issue is not just an environmental problem. The cost of living crisis is adding momentum to the zero waste movement as 'needs must' for many newly facing food poverty.
A major cause of binned ingredients, many supermarkets have axed 'best before' or 'use by' dates on fresh produce and milk. More and more influencers share creative recipes that use up offcuts and leftovers in scrappy, sometimes plant-based cooking. Not confined to the home kitchen, the Spanish government has created a new law whereby restaurants are required to offer doggy bags to diners.
Milan has gone all-in, creating zero-waste neighbourhoods across the city that act as a circular economy model for the future - fertile ground for restaurants use the likes of overripe tomatoes and salvaged asparagus ends. Of course, food waste by no means starts in the kitchen.
The high standards retail requires for fruit and veg results in heaps of produce ploughed back into the field or dumped. Some UK retailers have pledged to sell 'wonky' or 'stunted' fruit to help farmers affected by drought.
