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28th April 2022

Great British Menu chef dupes diners with food waste prank

Written by: Edward Waddell
Great British Menu chef James Cochran and food waste app Too Good To Go tricked diners with a food waste prank to celebrate #StopFoodWasteDay.

Hosted at Cochran’s award-winning fine-dining restaurant in Islington, 12:51, some of London’s most discerning food experts were invited to enjoy a bonafide top-tier fine-dining meal that unbeknownst to them was made from rescued food waste.

The 20 food experts were shocked after enjoying a five-course fine-dining tasting menu that was made from rescued food waste costing just £2.69 per person. The prank, which can be viewed on YouTube here, aimed to raise awareness of the 26,000 tonnes of food that is wasted every day in the UK.

Everything the guests ate during the evening was about to end up in the bin; it was either surplus food that was rescued and redistributed via the Too Good To Go app, or food items that were past its best before.

James Cochran, chef and co-founder of 12:51, said: “It’s been great to be a part of this project with Too Good To Go. No one likes throwing food away but sadly it does happen on a daily basis. I hope this event helps to inspire people at home to get creative in the kitchen and see how fun fighting food waste can be.”

Stop Food Waste Day is a national day of awareness that aims to educate and ignite action against food waste for the sake of the planet.

Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go added: Working with James on this project to showcase the true potential of food waste has been fantastic. We want to show that there is all this delicious, exciting food out there that is truly worth saving. This Stop Food Waste Day I encourage you to take inspiration from our video and try your own anti-food waste meals at home.”