Surplus fruit is being salvaged by a new and highly inventive sustainability project

To draw attention to the problem of food waste, sustainability campaigner Tristram Stuart recently fed 5,000 people for free, in London’s Trafalgar Square, using only food destined for landfill. A year on, he has turned his hand to saving would-be waste fruit to promote sustainability and healthy eating in schools across the UK.

The project, called A Taste of Freedom, sees surplus fruit salvaged from farmers, packers, wholesalers and markets, turned into sorbets — 90% fruit and 100% sugar free. Tristram’s team has even invented a unique ice-cream cone, also made entirely from dried fruit — all of which, of course, would otherwise have gone to landfill.

The Fruit Screams, as they are called, are sold at festivals, concerts and events across the UK from a specially converted ice-cream van. The vehicle’s engine runs off methane extracted from rotting food, such as peelings and banana skins. The goal is to bring much needed attention to the perfectly edible fresh food we throw out, while simultaneously raising funds to hold workshops and talks in schools.

Tristram reveals the motivation behind the project: “80% of school children are not eating enough fruit and vegetables, and four million people in the UK suffer from food poverty; yet 20 million tonnes of food is wasted here each year, with fruit and vegetables among the most frequently wasted foods.”

Reducing the food that goes to landfill also has significant environmental implications. If we all stopped wasting food that could be eaten, the effect on carbon dioxide emissions would be equivalent to taking one in four cars off the road, says the government-funded Love Food Hate Waste campaign.

A Taste of Freedom will target schools, particularly in low-income areas, where nutritional deficiencies have proven to be most pronounced. Each school will be offered a complete educational, interactive experience encompassing food waste, healthy eating and sustainability issues.

“The great thing about all the school work,” says Tristram, “is that kids have their instincts still very much intact and therefore, if you show them pictures of food being wasted on an industrial scale, they just get it instantly. Much more so than adults who rub their chins, saying: ‘oh isn’t this terrible’. Kids just go: ‘wow, think of all the chips you could make’ — it doesn’t matter what they look like! It’s really rewarding.”

One classroom activity devised by the team — the ‘Carrot Chuck Out Chain’ — demonstrates that over half the amount of carrots grown are wasted en route from farm to fork, which alarmingly is the case for most fresh fruit and vegetables. Five volunteers are asked to dress as characters in the food supply chain and the audience decides at each stage how many carrots, from an initial 100, are chucked away due to cosmetic imperfections, market over-speculation or damage. The programme incorporates six national curriculum key skills, such as communication and problem solving, while also aiming to develop children’s thinking and evaluative skills in real life situations.

“We have already been to a handful of schools,” says team member Toto Cox, “and the reception has been amazing. We try to be as interactive as possible in the lessons, allowing the kids to get involved, questioning and debating. A recent trip was to a secondary school in London, King Solomon’s, where we baked soda bread with the pupils and demonstrated how soft fruit and vegetables can be salvaged by turning them into tasty dishes.”

Officially launching in the new school year, the team will be visiting a host of primary schools across London and hope to then roll out the initiative nationwide.

Website: www​.atasteoffreedom​.org​.uk
Fruit Screams being served
Photo: copyright A Taste of Freedom