Take the Stop Food Waste Online Challenge with Catherine Fulvio

Take the Stop Food Waste Online Challenge 

with Catherine Fulvio 

Funded by: 

Take the Stop Food Waste Online Challenge at home with Catherine Fulvio 

This summer, you are invited to join Catherine Fulvio and take the Stop Food Waste Summer Challenge at home. Local Authorities in Laois, Meath, Westmeath and Wicklow are joining forces with Catherine Fulvio and Stop Food Waste to offer everyone throughout the country a chance to get involved in this online version of the popular Stop Food Waste Challenge. Participants are supported to find out how much food they are actually wasting and some delicious ways they can prevent it. The challenge will run online for four weeks, beginning with the first video from Catherine Sunday July 19th at 8:30pm.

Each video will be followed up by a live Q&A session with Catherine via the Stop Food Waste Facebook page (@StopFoodWaste) each Wednesday at 2pm. Tune in to ask questions about recipes and ways to minimise food waste at home. 

Globally, over one quarter of the food produced in the world for human consumption is wasted and every year people in Ireland throw out over one million tonnes of food. The average Irish household is binning between €700 worth of food each year. Reducing food waste has been identified as one of the most effective things we can do to prevent climate change. With so many people interested in taking action around climate, managing food waste effectively is something that can be done from at home. Any action taken, big or small, can have a positive impact on the bigger picture. 

Participants of this online training will be in with a chance to win fantastic prizes, including passes to Ballyknocken Cookery School and signed copies of Catherine Fulvio’s cookbook ‘A Taste of Home’. 

Suzanne Dempsey, Environmental Awareness Officer at Laois County Council: 

“Laois County Council are actively promoting climate action and food waste is one of the most effective ways that an individual can reduce their carbon footprint. It not only helps that environment but can save you money too. Food waste has a significant impact on the environment given all the energy and resources consumed in producing, transport, packaging of that food which are all wasted when that food is thrown out. We are really excited to have Catherine Fulvio as the spokesperson for this Stop Food Waste Challenge. As one of Ireland's most well known TV chefs she has a huge amount of knowledge that she can impart to followers on how to reduce their food waste at home.” 

Catherine Fulvio: “Awareness is key to reducing food waste and as a long-time advocate for the reduction of food waste I am delighted to be working with four County Councils, Laois, Westmeath, Meath and Wicklow, on the reduction of food waste, especially at this time when we are all cooking and eating more at home. Each week a new video will be posted with a recipe from me and lots of tips and tricks to help you to reduce food waste in your home.” 

About Stop Food Waste 

Stop Food Waste is an EPA programme funded under the EPA National Waste Prevention Programme (NWPP). The NWPP has identified food waste as a priority waste stream to be addressed in the coming decade in line with our national commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals. Stop Food Waste works with householders, helping them to make the most of their food. The programme provides information and supports on all aspects of preventing food waste, from good planning and shopping practices through to correct storage and reuse options. 

The four key steps people can take to Stop Food Waste are: 

1. Know your food waste: Make a list of what you throw out over the next week, this will give you a better understanding where your habits produce waste so you know what to target for improvement. 

2. Planning and Shopping: Smarter shopping ensures that you don’t waste hard-earned money on food that goes in the bin. Plan your meals (including lunches at work), check the cupboards and fridge before you go, and use a shopping list. 

3. Cooking and Storing: Store food properly to make the most of what you have bought to keep food fresher for longer. The Stop Food Waste ‘A-Z of food’ 

contains tips and advice on how to store and cook various food types. Using leftovers for lunch not only helps reduce food waste, it will also save you money. 

4. Bin it better: Use the brown bin (or try home-composting) for the unavoidable food waste you do generate. A recent national study showed that almost 50% of household organic waste is still being disposed of in the “wrong bins”, i.e. recycling or black bin. 

Website: www.stopfoodwaste.ie 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stopfoodwaste.ie/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Stop_Food_Waste 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StopFoodWaste/ 

About LAPN 

The Local Authority Prevention Network, LAPN, is a cooperative programme between the Environmental Protection Agency’s led National Waste Prevention Programme and local authorities in Ireland. LAPN aims to build capacity in local authorities for promoting waste prevention at a local and grassroots level for the benefit of their regions. https://localprevention.ie/ 

press release

Flight of the Bee Sensations

Flight to the Top for Bee Sensations

Irish Quality Food Awards 2014.

Great to be at the table with Bee Sensations last Friday evening when one of their lovely jams won at the Irish Quality Food Awards 2014. On the Pig’s Back and Burren Salmon were also among the victors on a night which is mainly for the supermarkets and the larger producers (such as Dale Farm Dairies, ABP Cahir, Kepak, and O’Brien Fine Foods who were all on the podium).

Munster based Bee Sensations are a husband and wife company, run by Tom and Croéin Ruttle. They are quite famous for their innovative (often blended) jams, which use honey instead of sugar, and of course for their honey. As it happened it was one of their jams, the Honeyed Fig, Rhubarb and Chilli Savoury Jam, that struck gold in the Grocery Ambient - Savoury class.

But there was a moment of unnecessary drama before the win was confirmed as apparently the wrong class was called out first. Still, the busy couple were soon able to relax as their name appeared on screen. It was about the only obvious hitch in a very slick presentation, introduced by Paul Kennedy and compered by celebrity chef Catherine Fulvio (“a farmer’s daughter”).

Birgitta Curtin is one of the heroes of Irish food and she keeps innovating and winning. Her success came  in the Fish section where her Burren Smoked Irish Organic Salmon with Seaweed Marinade came out on top. This came in for high praise from the judges: “really fantastic in terms of colour, texture and flavour”. Like Bee Sensations (and unlike most of the other producers), she didn't have a supermarket partner listed.

Olivia, of An Olivia Chocolate, and, sister Emily (left)

But Cobh’s Deirdre Hilliard and her company Just Food weren't as  fortunate in the Soups section. Her HiLo Super Greens Soup was behind a Lidl Ireland soup, Newgate Tomato Soup by Princes (the international food and drink company).

The cross-border event is labelled Irish Quality Food Awards not Quality Irish Food Awards. There is a difference as we all know from small print on food packaging! Honey is one often quoted example.

Cork’s Isabelle Sheridan of On the Pig's Back certainly enjoyed her trip to the Mansion House as she was named the Supervalu Small Producer of the Year.  Based on her French family recipes, Isabelle has been making chicken liver patés and terrines in Cork since 1995. Her Chicken Liver Paté with Garlic and Brandy is the product that led to this breakthrough and the organisers say they are sure “it will be a fantastic addition to Supervalu’s product line and look forward to working with On the Pig’s Back”. Well done Isabelle.

The awards are open to all retailers, food producers, wholesalers and food service operators “across Northern and Southern Ireland” (someone should tell the PR it is the Republic of Ireland!). Awards were presented in some fifty categories and the Overall Gold Q Award went to Simply Better French Trimmed Connemara Hill Rack of Lamb (Dunnes Stores/Tendermeats).

Yours truly with Isabelle Sheridan (On The Pig's Back)

See the full list of awards here.

Blas na hEireann update on Bee Sensations July 2015 here