NSW News
OzHarvest to open Australia’s first-ever pop-up cafe featuring a food waste menu: harvested
by OzAdmin
May 5, 2015


NSW News
OzHarvest to open Australia’s first-ever pop-up cafe featuring a food waste menu: harvested
by OzAdmin
Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, OzHarvest, will transform food destined-for-landfill into gourmet, high quality restaurant meals for its latest innovative pop-up café project, harvested, set to open its doors to the public on Tuesday, 12 May from 11.30am in Pyrmont.
The organisation collects approximately 340,000 kilograms of surplus food each month from all types of food businesses including supermarkets, cafés, restaurants, catering companies, events and even farms. It has delivered more than 33 million meals, saved more than 11,000 tonnes of food from landfill across its 10 years of operations, providing much needed food relief to Australians in need.
OzHarvest services more than 680 welfare organisations in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth and in regional areas via its REAP food rescue program, including homeless shelters, women’s and men’s refuges, youth shelters and organisations that service families in vulnerable communities.
The project came about thanks to City West Housing, an affiliated partner organisation who donated the empty restaurant space to OzHarvest, under a three month lease.
OzHarvest Chef for a Cause, Travis Harvey, who leads Cooking for a Cause, the organisations’ corporate engagement and volunteer program which prepares thousands of meals for those in need each year, will be heading up the rescued food kitchen and was the mastermind behind the concept.
With years of experience working in fine-dining restaurants and spending close to a decade travelling and mastering Mexican, Spanish, Turkish and regional Italian dishes, Harvey said: “The idea behind harvested is simple. It takes a challenge that OzHarvest and our food recipients have to face every day… what to do with surplus food that society has rejected because of its appearance, discolouration or slight imperfections? We wanted the public to experience this too, and see how good it can be.”
“We want people to discover by dining at harvested, that there’s nothing wrong with this produce and that high quality, nutritious and wholesome meals can be made from ingredients that would normally be discarded simply by the application of a little imagination and effort.”
Ronni Kahn, Founder & CEO of OzHarvest said: “We want to inspire people to get back to basics and challenge them to waste less. In a society where abundance is now seen as normal, we need to challenge perceptions and behaviour. We need people to think of the consequences of our wasteful habits and how it impacts on the environment and our planet. Each year we waste up to 10 billion dollars’ worth of good food in Australia.”
In the lead up to its national campaign partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme, Think.Eat.Save, on Monday, 27 July, OzHarvest is encouraging curious members of the public to come and taste rescued meals, harvested from landfill-destined produce for a small donation of $15.
On its first day of launch (12 May) meals will be FREE to the public in exchange for a pic posted on social media using the hashtag #mealforameal, a campaign where Virgin Mobile donates 50 cents to OzHarvest for every hashtag, allowing one meal to be delivered to someone in need.
The menu will change week-to-week based on the ingredients rescued. A set price per head of $15 per customer will help OzHarvest feed 30 hungry Australians. OzHarvest volunteers will also donate their time to help with the project.
Joost Bakker, an OzHarvest ambassador as well as a zero-waste champion: “What an awesome idea. These guys live and breathe food rescue every day and to be able to now share this with the public and educate them on how to waste less is brilliant! I can’t wait to get to harvested to taste test the meals myself.”
Location: harvested, 56 Harris St, Pyrmont NSW
Opening times: Every Tuesday & Wednesday lunch only from 11.30am – 2.30pm (until end July)
No need to book, just pop on in or call us on 1800 108 006 for any questions.
(From Thursday – Saturday evenings and Sunday lunches the pop-up space will be open as Baraka Pop-Up Restaurant, where proceeds will also go to OzHarvest. Find out more at https://barakaoz.com.au/)
Find us on social media: @ozharvest #harvested #mealforameal
For more info on OzHarvest please visit www.ozharvest.org
For media interviews please contact OzHarvest Marketing and Communications Manager, Louise Tran: [email protected] | 0466 620 744
May 5, 2015