In this era of extreme food waste in the so-called "First World" countries as many others across the world suffer from hunger, a new initiative has been taking the United Kingdom by storm with a new perspective on how to use unwanted food: the Real Junk Food Project.
Food waste is a major concern in different countries, like the United States and the UK, particularly in supermarkets - but the Real Junk Food Project in Great Britain has taken up a crusade against this by creating a café that builds up around the idea of preventing waste.
According to The Independent, the Real Junk Food Project is part of a grander scheme to also push through legislation that would disable places like restaurants and supermarkets from throwing away so much food in the United Kingdom. For this, the man behind the idea is taking things one step at a time.
They have been dubbed "social cafés," but the Real Junk Food Project has only the simple goal of preventing the waste that entails throwing away tons of food when it can still be used for different dishes like soups or casseroles.
The man behind this project is called Adam Smith, and he started what has turned into a new fashion in Armley, a district west of Leeds (in New Yorkshire, England). He's a 29 year-old trained chef and the concept behind his work is somewhat close to that of a soup kitchen: he charges based on a policy of "pay as you feel," and when people are not able to pay, they can help out cleaning the dishes in the kitchen.
According to Sys-Con, Smith's restaurant has managed to use 20,000 kilograms (44,000 pounds) of food to feed 100,000 people, gathering around £30,000 in the process, which is about 46,600 in American dollars - all from food that would have gone to livestock feed or the line if it hadn't been for the Real Junk Food Project.
Interestingly enough, this has created a new trend in the country, with more than 47 others being created by other entrepreneurs, with the same policy. The project has bee expanded to other countries, reaching as far away as Brazil. Hopefully, this will become a trend that will see many other similar cafés following around the world.
You can watch more about this interesting project in the video below!
