Rye restaurantserves up waste

In a radical move the award winning Ambrette in Rye High Street is hoping to draw attention to the enormous amounts of edible food we waste in Britain by holding a charity dinner.

Chef Patron Dev Biswal will create a gourmet 6-course tasting menu using ingredients commonly discarded by restaurants, supermarkets, butchers, fishmongers and domestic kitchens: chicken skin, cauliflower stalks, coriander roots, fruit peelings, squeezed lemons, lamb’s head, fish heads, skate cheeks, beef trimmings and cheese crusts.

The special menu, costing £39.95, will be served in Rye on August 17 and proceeds donated to provide humanitarian aid in South Sudan via the Red Cross.

The menu will feature Mouldy cheese soup; Crispy fried chicken skins marinated in mango, ginger and red chilli; savoury panna cotta flavoured with cauliflower stalks; fish head stew with summer vegetables; Ambrette style meat pie with beef trimmings and coriander root; and squeezed lemon posset with summer vegetable peelings cooked in fennel seeds and a sugar and cinnamon compote.

According to government figures, each year in Britain we discard £10bn worth of food – £480 per household.

“The goal is to create consciousness about food waste and donate proceeds raised from the “Waste Away” dinners to help alleviate the dreadful humanitarian situation in south Sudan,” said Dev Biswal.

The Ambrette raised £5,000 for local and international good causes last year.