Australia
Cooking for a cause
On 12 July 2021, the Aspen Australia team in Melbourne was fortunate to be able to participate in another successful Mandela Day event with the OzHarvest team.
OzHarvest has continued to promote sustainability by fighting food waste, educating people about zero-waste cooking and food rescue for the past 16 years. The OzHarvest team rescue food that would typically be thrown discarded and use the resources to create delicious meals that are then distributed to homeless shelters.
Whilst we were a small team on the day, the enthusiasm was at an all-time high! After missing out on participating in the event in 2020 due to COVID-19, our volunteers were eager to get involved and give back to the community. Following the onset of the pandemic, we know that now more than ever, people are impacted by the vulnerabilities of the food system and there has been a substantial increase in the need for food relief.
Our team worked with the chefs at the OzHarvest pop-up warehouse kitchen to transform rescued ingredients and together we produced 120 meals for people in need – an incredible effort!
The experience left everyone feeling fulfilled but also more aware of the importance of managing our own personal food waste with the reminder that every little bit counts and makes a difference!
