Would you eat meals with expired ingredients? Embassy Cafe says you should try real ‘junk food’
The Real Junk Food Project in Embassy Cafe in Cathays only started a week ago, but it is a huge success so far.
The cafe’s creativity comes from using food close to its expiry date that has been rejected from other places. Chef and co-founder Josh Quigley turns what could be junk into nutritious meals and customers only pay as much as they can. “Up till now we have served over 150 people and everyone’s really liking it.” says Josh.
The Real Junk Food project originally started in Leeds, and spread across the country.
Josh decided it was time to start one in Cardiff. “I think food waste is a massive issue. It is one of the biggest environmental issues of our time and many foods are thrown away, so I want to be in the middle, trying to fix that.”
Food waste across the EU is a huge problem. According to a recent report by the House of Lords, close to 89 million tonnes of food are wasted every year. The figure will continue to grow if no action is taken, which will bring huge costs to environment, economy and society.
In the UK, half of the food we throw away comes from our homes and the main reason that we throw it away is because they have already passed the best-before date. However, most products are still okay to eat after that date has passed.
But is the food as good as they say? InterCardiff reporter Yi Peng tried it out!
Tuesday, the 2nd February, just half an hour before this small and cosy café closed, there were only two things left on the menu: the vegan curry and tomato vegetable soup. Most of the meals had sold out!
I had both. The tomato soup tastes just like a normal tomato soup. It is impossible to tell it was made by ingredients close to being thrown away. The vegan curry was also absolutely yummy!
I recommend it.
