Dine out on scraps at a New York pop-up dedicated to reusing food waste

“We need to change our way of eating to support every part of the landscape – we need to cook with the whole farm,” says Dan Barber, co-owner of iconic NYC farm-to-table restaurant Blue Hill. “Vegetable pulp, skate cartilage, off-grade produce – we need to find a place for these things in our cooking because they are part of what our landscape provides. It doesn’t make sense – ecologically, economically, or gastronomically – to throw them away.”

From 13th-31st March, Blue Hill will become Wasted, a pop-up restaurant devoted to the theme of food waste and re-use. The idea is not only to create a menu around the waste that accumulates every day in home and restaurant kitchens, but also to reimagine waste that occurs at every link in the food chain – in the field, during processing and in the market place. Wasted will partner with more than 20 renowned guest chefs from around the world, including Grant Achatz and Mario Batali, to curate daily specials and celebrate what peasant cooking has been doing for thousands of years.

“Some of the greatest peasant dishes, and even cuisines, are based on utilising what is not immediately coveted,” explains Barber. “Take bouillabaisse from France, a stew that was conceived around the fish that couldn’t be sold at the docks; or Prosciutto di Parma from Italy, which gets its delicious nutty flavour because the pigs are fed leftover whey from the Parmesan cheese-making process in the region.” And while pock marked potatoes, immature egg yolks and fish skin don't sound that appetising, sometimes it pays to place faith in a more acquired palette.

Like Silo (the UK’s first zero-waste restaurant), Wasted ultimately aims to broadcast a message about sustainability and how we can change our ways of cooking and eating to feed a growing population.