Dorchester’s delightful dishes!
Dorchester-on-Thames takes a step closer on the path to zero waste
Oxfordshire’s Dorchester-on-Thames took a step closer on the path to zero waste yesterday, when keen volunteers learnt how to reduce their food waste. Earlier in the year Dorchester was successful in winning government funding (through DEFRA, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to enable it to work towards zero waste (1).
Working together to support the initiative, staff from Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (OWP) and WRAP (Banbury based Waste and Resources Action Programme) helped equip a group of villagers with knowledge on how to buy, store and prepare food to get more for their money and eliminate wasted food.
Emma Barnett, waste reduction advisor from WRAP helped organise the day. She said: “There are so many old kitchen skills we all used to know that have slipped out of fashion. With just a bit of practice it’s so easy to cut food waste. I hope some of the people we spoke to today go home and make a tasty new dish from their leftovers tonight.”
Attendees were encouraged to complete a diary for a week noting just how much food they threw away. This gave them an insight into what they were wasting and got them ready to do something about it.
Laura Bristow is keen to bring about change through the zero waste mission and was one of those who benefited from the tuition. She said “We all got something from the training course; even those of us that were already good cooks. I’m certainly going to be passing some of my new found tips on to friends, especially about using my freezer to make food last longer.”
OWP chair, Cllr John Tanner said: “With food making up such a large proportion of our waste, it’s important for anyone trying to eliminate waste to look at their cooking habits. We wish the people of Dorchester every success with their project. We hope to learn from their example and be able to apply their findings to the rest of Oxfordshire.”
