Waste not, want not for Danish restaurant

Danish restaurant Rub & Stub only use leftovers culled from shops and other eateries, and it’s run by volunteers, says Arlene Harris.

Wed, 03 Dec, 2014 - 00:00

Arlene Harris

MILLIONS of people are starving while millions of others are obese. The rich Western countries of ever-increasing waistlines throw away as much food as they consume.

1.3bn tonnes of food is thrown away each year by picky eaters or because too much produce was bought in the supermarket.

And a huge amount of food is edible, but not deemed acceptable by the retailer.

Curved vegetables, ‘ugly’ fruit, off cuts of meat or fish and other less-than-perfect specimens don’t meet strict consumer guidelines and so are cast aside.

But one restaurant in Copenhagen is addressing food waste. Spisrubogstub, or Rub & Stub as it is better known, is the first in Europe to serve only surplus food.

The staff are volunteers who cycle their bicycles around the city each morning to collect food that retailers will not sell that day.

The produce, which is still fresh, is then brought to the restaurant, where the chef will turn it into a delicious menu that changes daily, depending on what is available. All profits are donated to charity.

On a weekend break to Copenhagen, I had researched the restaurant scene and despite being in the home city of Noma, the ‘world’s best’ restaurant, my pocket and my conscience steered me towards Rub & Stub to learn if it is possible to make a tasty meal out of leftovers.

Located on the first floor of a music and arts venue, the restaurant, which had just celebrated its first birthday, is difficult to find. We spent a half an hour walking up and down the street, before realising that we should have been looking up a level.

Finally realising our mistake, we headed through the sparsely decorated building. We were greeted at the entrance of the eatery by a busy skeleton crew of staff.

As none of the waiting or kitchen staff is salaried, there are days when the restaurant can be frantic — but as long as you go with the flow, sit back and enjoy a pre-dinner drink, the culinary results are worth the wait.

With dishes ranging in price from €5 to €25, there is a wide selection. We chose the ‘snack plate’, which was comprised of a selection of seafood and tapas-style bites and a main course of steak with pickled cabbage and potatoes.

Because of the ‘leftover’ nature of the raw material, some of the dishes have to be cooked for longer to maximise texture and flavour. This was true of the flank steak which, although it would be considered a cheap ‘offcut’ in Ireland, was cooked to perfection, which made it difficult to believe that in many households it would be considered only fit for the dog’s dinner.

The vegetables, which were refreshingly varied in shape and size, were plentiful and we were advised to shout for second helpings if we needed them.

The snack plate of bruschetta, prawns, a seafood terrine and a selection of olives and dips was colourful, aesthetically pleasing and delicious. And while alcohol in Denmark is more expensive than in Ireland, the wine and beer in Rub & Stub was also good value.

Serving our table (and it seemed most of the busy restaurant) was student, Maria Abrahamsen, who has been volunteering since the venue opened last year. On her short break, she told us how the concept works and why they are always looking for help.

“The restaurant opened in August, 2013, with very few volunteers, based on a little group of ten people,” she says. “Together with Retro (a charitable organisation), the idea and concept for Rub & Stub was formed.

“Now, we have over 80 volunteers working at the restaurant — all in different teams, which include serving, kitchen, decoration and fund- raising. The average age is from 22-32 and most of us are students or graduates.

“The only staff members who are paid are the two chefs and the project manager as these are full-time roles and it wouldn’t be possible for someone to dedicate all of their time to it — plus, it takes skill to produce such good food on a daily basis.”

Maria says the concept of the restaurant appeals to customers and it not only promotes the charity, but also highlights how people can work together for a common cause.

“People have very different reasons for wanting to join us here at Rub & Stub,” she says. “Mostly it is because of the concept, but some also want to socialise, network or even just gain experience at running a restaurant.

“But what we all have in common is the fact that we think it is important to fight food waste.

“And because we have many students from around the world volunteering here, it gives the restaurant an international vibe and creates the feeling that we are all working towards the same goal.

“Today, all shifts are taken and we do have enough staff, but we are always looking for enthusiastic volunteers, from any part of the world, who want to try and end food waste.”

Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O’Brien are two social enterpreneurs who also believe that food waste is a problem.

A year ago, the two launched the Foodcloud app, which feeds meals to homeless people across the country. All the food comes from businesses that would have otherwise discarded it. Via the app, they link up 220 Irish charities with food companies, so that a tonne of food is shifted via the app every day — or enough to make 325,000 meals.

Last month, the girls were named two of Time magazine’s ‘Next Generation Leaders’ and Ireland’s top young social entrepreneurs at this year’s Join Our Core competition.

Also this year, Bia Food Initiative, a non-profit organisation, opened what it describes as the State’s first food-surplus redistribution hub in Cork.

Its 10,000sq fit centre, in Little Island, takes in excess food from Tesco, Aldi, Musgraves and Kelloggs, as well as from several local producers. It then redistributes the food to a network of charities in Cork, Limerick and Kerry.

Penny Dinners, in Cork, have been feeding the needy since the Famine and serve 1,000 meals each week. Also run by volunteers, the organisation was enthusiastic to hear about the Copenhagen restaurant concept and believe that something similar could be done in this country.

“The idea of a restaurant run by volunteers, serving surplus food and donating profits to charity, is a super idea,” says spokeswoman, Catriona Twomey.

“We have some fabulously talented people in the food industry here in Ireland, who could ‘surplus’ our country back on its feet in a fun way, while benefiting the wider community at the same time — it really is a case of ‘waste not, want not’.”