Creative ways chefs are combatting food waste

Rather than discard trimmings, many chefs try to overcome this issue. "Food waste is an issue for every restaurant. Instead of treating these products as waste, we should see them as products to work with—this change in perspective makes a difference," enthuses Johnson Wong of Gēn 根. 

Aidan Low of Akar Dining explains how flavours can be extracted from bi-produce before it goes into the bin. “Meat trimmings are incorporated into our meat marinade, while certain seafood innards are great for garum (fermented fish sauce). Furthermore, upcycling less desired parts of vegetables, such as broccoli leaves, are an excellent flavour boost to the plant itself.”

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Both Su and Goh take a nose-to-tail concept when approaching food waste, which can be seen in the use of duck at Restaurant au Jardin. “Duck breasts are served to diners, carcasses are made into jus, and customers are presented with the remaining duck leg in a parcel to take home for breakfast,” Su explains. 

This can be compared to Goh’s concept of a 'second service' a dish that uses up remaining produce from the previous course. “I wanted to reduce food waste when I planned my menu at Atas, so I thought to make leftover parts of the proteins and vegetables into additional courses,” she says.

At the restaurant, a dish of black feet poulet is followed by a second service of a confit of leg that would otherwise have gone to waste. Likewise, steak is followed by a cannelloni tartare. 

Ramsey explains how techniques such as fermentation can reduce wastage. “One can transform food waste into food treasure using fermented foods to introduce umami-laden, unique flavours into cooking in the form of sauces, purées and more.” 

He applies these techniques at both Kintsugi and Japas. “We take leftover sushi rice and re-steam it, blend it, and spread it on non-stick sheets. Once dry, we fry them into rice chips that we serve with our bluefin tuna tartare at Japas.

“At Kintsugi, we are dry-aging fish. Our Japanese Hon Maguro toro is aged for nearly three weeks but by this time, the exterior has become a hard shell that we have to trim off. Rather than discard this, we cure the meat in a mixture of sugar, salt, and dehydrated dashi, then smoke it and turn it into a tuna jerky-like cured fish meat.” The unique snack is served alongside sake at Kintsugi. 

However, while it seems like additional effort, minimising food waste benefits restaurants. “Reducing food waste brings us higher content when working with produce, while widening our margins,” explains Low. 

Ramsey agrees: “Using food trim to create new recipes is not just good for the wastage issue and the bottom line, it is also a tool to help the flavours of food stand out. It’s the smart thing to do.” 

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While chefs are doing what they can to minimise the impact of wastage, they recognise that things need to change. “The issue will eventually become bigger when the industry grows and people neglect the importance of minimising food waste,” says Su. 

However, there are many ways to tackle this issue, such as composting, incorporating remaining produce into guest experiences, and increasing expertise in food storage. Ramsey adds that we have come a long way from traditional presentation: “We now see food presented closer to its natural form.” This reduces trimmings and waste. 

Wong concludes that we need to be open to ideas. “Food has a different meaning to everyone, so we should give freedom and encouragement to team members to think of creative ways to approach wastage.”

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