Harvested, Sydney

Did you know that $8-10 billion worth of edible food is wasted each year by Australian households alone? That is twice the amount of foreign aid Australia gives!

In fact:

• Australians throw away 20% of groceries
• Australia produces enough food for 60 million people annually, yet 2 million go hungry
• Every day, 1 million Australian kids do not get breakfast or dinner

The list goes on.

OzHarvest is a non-profit organisation that has been rescuing surplus food meant for the bin for over 10 years and distributes it to 600 charities nationally. It is the only organisation in Australia who performs this work, and has converted over 10,780 tonnes of food destined for the landfill, into over 32,340,498 meals to date.

Today, OzHarvest launched their pop-up cafe ‘Harvested’, which makes delicious meals out of rescued food for the public.

Owl and myself have been supporters of OzHarvest for many a year now and were super keen to check the cafe out.

Today’s menu consisted of:

At only $15, you can choose as many dishes as you like from a menu that changes daily, depending on what they have managed to rescue. Dish size depends on the number of people on your table as all dishes are made for sharing (except for soup dishes). The following dish sizes were for two (Owl and me).

House-made pide with smoked aubergine labneh
The pide was soft with a slight bite to it, like when you use some spelt flour. The labneh was smooth, creamy and was gloriously smokey with garlicky undertones.
Zucchini fritters with dill sauce and herbs
This dish stole the limelight. It was pillowy soft on the inside and lightly crunchy on the outside. It felt like eating soft-shelled crab and went beautifully with the yoghurt-dill sauce. The herb salad had crisp cucumbers, fresh mint, spring onion and parsley dressed in some sort of lemony buttery sauce that lifted the fritters beautifully. I would go back just to eat $15 worth of this dish…
12-hour slow-cooked lamb, braised with bean and pickled radish
This dish drew you in with its promise of warmth and comfort, and it did not disappoint. The beans were creamy and nicely balanced (not too salty like some places), and the lamb was braised to perfection. It was soft enough to portion with a butter knife and yet was distinctively and intensely flavourful. I was quite enamoured by the cute little pickled radish which added colour, texture and also cut through the rich lamb and beans beautifully.
As an after-thought, Owl and I asked for a dish of the ‘Charred veggies with yoghurt and sesame spice‘. Although very pleasant and not cooked to mush, it pretty much tasted like charred veggies with yoghurt and dukkah. I did notice the cleverly added bits of roasted kale which added to the nuttiness of the dish. The beetroot also added beautiful pink swirls to the dish, enhancing it’s visual appeal even during consumption.

By the end, both Owl and I were comfortably full and completely satisfied, which means the portion sizes were good as we are both ‘healthy eaters’ (ahem). I was half wishing that they had a dessert dish but then remembered it was $2 coffee day at Antidote and did not mind so much  😉

The glass-walled restaurant was sunny, relaxed and friendly; with passion exuding out of all the volunteer waiters and waitresses there. Ronni Kahn, the founder of OzHarvest, was there to greet all the guests and make sure everything ran smoothly (which it did!). Everything was just beautiful and a big kudos to everyone who made this project such a success. Keep up the good work, guys!

Harvested is only open for lunch on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11.30am – 2.30pm. No bookings taken so hurry – they are said to be closing at the end of July 2015.

If you cannot make it, fret not. Baraka, another pop-up restaurant from the founder of Chic Pea has opened in the same place and will donate part of its proceeds to OzHarvest. It opens for dinner Thurs-Sat from 6pm. Bookings will be taken.

More than the novelty and delicious food, it is important that we continue to support events like this to educate, create awareness and enhance sustainability. As Jeff Sachs said, “We face, therefore, a moral crisis, not a material crisis. We face a problem not of means but of ends. As Aristotle might have said, we have the techne (the technological know-how) but not yet the phronesis (the moral wisdom) to choose survival over death. We are trapped by an indifference that ironically has been magnified by America’s exaggerated defense of liberty at the expense of virtue.”

Perhaps Australians are not too far behind.

Harvested
56 Harris Street, Pyrmont, NSW
1800 108 006

More information: SMH Good Food :: Femail :: Ozharvest

Advertisement

Drink tea for World Water Day

Happy World Water Day, everyone!

Worldvision Australia has partnered with Chatime Australia today for World Water Day. 10% of all hot and iced teas purchased on 22 March 2014 will go towards transforming the lives of children, families, and entire communities through the precious gift of water. Now thats refreshing!  🙂 Read more here.

World Water Day 2014

The United Nations World Water Day is celebrated annually on the 22nd of March  – thats only 5 days away! Every year brings a different theme to raise awareness of issues relating to our most precious resource and this year’s theme is “Water and Energy”.

Water and energy are closely interlinked and interdependent. Energy generation and transmission requires utilization of water resources, particularly for hydroelectric, nuclear, and thermal energy sources. Conversely, about 8% of the global energy generation is used for pumping, treating and transporting water to various consumers.

In 2014, the UN System – working closely with its Member States and other relevant stakeholders – is collectively bringing its attention to the water-energy nexus, particularly addressing inequities, especially for the ‘bottom billion’ who live in slums and impoverished rural areas and survive without access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, sufficient food and energy services. It also aims to facilitate the development of policies and crosscutting frameworks that bridge ministries and sectors, leading the way to energy security and sustainable water use in a green economy. Particular attention will be paid to identifying best practices that can make a water- and energy-efficient ‘Green Industry’ a reality.

UN Water, 2014

I tried to see if there were any events happening in Sydney but the search has thus far proved to be elusive as the main event is occurring in Tokyo, Japan. Nonetheless, you can host your own event with the UN providing lots of free resources including posters, fact sheets, and even T-shirt templates.

You can find out more at the UN and the UN Water website. In the meantime, savewater is promising the chance to win a plethora of stuff, including an Apple iPad, for survey fill-ins (they are pretty short).

Soccket – The Energy Harnessing Soccer Ball by Uncharted Play

Ant and I are passionate about making a difference around the world and we enjoy looking for ways to support innovation – particularly innovation which gives those less fortunate, the opportunity to break the cycles of poverty. One project we stumbled across recently was the excellent idea of Soccket an Energy Harnessing Soccer Ball by Uncharted Play. We love it, because the project has two extremely practical functions. Firstly, it encourages exercise and play by being a useable soccer/football. Secondly, while it is being used in play it has a pendulum-like mechanism which captures all that healthy play and turns it into useable energy! The greatest part about this is they’ve also developed and included an LED lamp attachment for each Soccket ball sold, which when ‘plugged’ into the ball gives up to 3 hours of light from just 30 minutes of play. We think this great blend of two different items give kids in developing countries the potential to stay healthy through sport- which fights the growing obesity rates in developing nations, as well as, uses that stored energy to then give them light to study later!

Go and check this project out on Kickstarter and if you’re as excited as we are about the potential this has to make an difference in lives around the world, support it! It’s only got 55 hours left on it’s clock for you to back Soccket! We think this project has great potential. The last great aspect of this project is that you can either receive a Soccket for yourself or choose to donate it to a child who needs it in a developing country.

Make a real Difference

In just 1.5 months the film hit $200 million domestically and due to popular demand, kept showing for 7 months running in cinemas. It was nominated for at least 24 awards and won at least 10. Top critics around the world rated it mostly 4 out of 5.

What made ‘The Blind Side’ such a huge success?

I think it’s the same thing that makes movies like ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Patch Adams’ and ‘The City of Joy’ successful. It’s feel-good, inspirational and above all, based on a true story. In this violent, cut-throat world that we live in now, we want to know that there are people in the world who still care and we like to see that caring can still make a difference.

World Vision and Compassion are two organisations which give you an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of poverty stricken youths. Much like the reflections of Mrs Touhy at the end of the movie, the lives of these children could turn out differently if they only had the opportunity to break away from the poverty cycle.

Opportunity is a strong word. It tips the balance in favour of one thing or another but this can only happen if people actually act upon the opportunities presented to them. Time waits for no man and these kids really need a helping hand, so please take some time out to care and to make a real difference by sponsoring one of the youths.

– ant –