Students from Yaşar University Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts practiced zero-waste cooking to draw attention to food waste in Turkey, where 93 kg of food per person is thrown away each year.
A competition entitled “One Course of Meal Out of Food Waste” was organized jointly by Yaşar University Department Gastronomy and Culinary Arts and the digital gastronomy platform ‘Kısık Ateş’ to draw attention to food wastes and how to make use of them. Students cooked using the food they preferred and transformed the waste food into consumable food. The meals cooked were posted on the social media accounts chosen to reach thousands of people to raise awareness.
The One Course of Meal Out of Food Waste competition was held jointly by Yaşar University School of Applied Sciences Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts the digital platform Kısık Ateş. Inspired by the idea “They are not to be wasted but to be recycled”, the competition took place on a digital platform accessible by students and was attended by 83 participants. Each participant cooked one main course of meal using a variety of food from artichoke to fish and also prepared different products using the food wastes to practice the “zero-waste” principle. The top participants of the competition were awarded for their performance.
Along with the top five students awarded, there were also students deemed worthy of honorable mention. While Ahsen Yağcı, Azim Umurtağ, Karya Yaraşır and Richard Hakan Campany were deemed worthy of honorable mention, Tolgacan Gürsoy ranked fifth with his dishes “Artichoke with Veal Cubes” and “Stuffed Artichoke Leaves”, Tuana Tarazan ranked fourth with her dishes “Shrimp in Celery Root and Turnip” and “Celery Rib and Potato au Gratin”, Melissa Işık ranked third with her dishes “Veal on Cream Mushroom Chard and Potato Puree” and “Roasted Chard with Cream Mushroom”, Ersin Özgür Bulut ranked second with his dishes “Green Zucchini Cake” and “Zucchini Dish Kaşkarikas”, and Setenay Yurttabir ranked first with her dishes “Confit of Maigre” and “Fish Bisque”. The recipes of the dishes ranking top in the competition will be accessible on https://www.kisikates.com.tr/.
93 KG FOOD WASTED PER PERSON
United Nations Environment Programme’s Report on Food Waste Index 2021 indicates that 931 million tons of food is being wasted across the globe. 61 percent of the waste derives from domestic origin. With more than 7.7 million tons of food being wasted and 93 kilograms of food being thrown away each year, Turkey is ranked among the countries with the highest amounts of food waste.