Have your Re(PURPOSE): circular food experience on World Food Day, October 16

Guelph, Ont., October 13, 2020–Starting Thursday, October 15, the first circular meal in North America will be served in Guelph—a gourmet restaurant meal created entirely from waste!

We know that 40 per cent of everything we grow and produce gets thrown away. Under the leadership of Provision Coalition, Our Food Future collaborators across Guelph-Wellington are working to change that. They’ve asked themselves, “could we make food from waste?”

The answer is yes. And while it may sound gross, it’s really not.

It all starts with beer. Specifically, with the waste grain from the brewing process. The grains are upcycled as feedstock to an insect farm that produces animal feed, which then goes to a trout farm. The insect and fish waste become natural fertilizer for potatoes. Some of the grain the insects can’t use goes to a baker with waste yeast from a yeast lab to produce bread.

The result: a hot smoked steelhead trout on a sourdough with potato chips and a pint of beer. A fully circular meal, served for an entire month by Canada’s largest B-corporation restaurant chain.

You are invited to join us for the virtual launch of Re(PURPOSE): A circular food experience.

The Re(PURPOSE) project encourages us to re-imagine, re-use and revalue the inputs and outputs of our food ecosystem—maximizing their use, eliminating waste, finding the most cost-effective returns and reducing negative environmental impacts. Today, 30 per cent of food produced never makes it to the plate, and wasted food results in 193 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. That is equal to the emissions generated by 41 million cars driven continuously for a year.

With World Food Day falling on Friday, October 16, the circular meal is one way that Guelph-Wellington is taking action for our future. We’re joining countries around the world to promote access to healthy nutritious food and recognize the value of waste.

What

A circular food experience online launch

Who

Lloyd Longfield, Guelph MP, House of Commons of Canada (video message)
Mike Schreiner, Leader of the Green Party of Ontario and Guelph MPP (video message)
Councillor Dominique O’Rourke, City of Guelph, Ward 6 Councillor
Scott Stewart, City of Guelph Chief, Administrative Officer
Cher Mereweather, Provision Coalition, President and CEO
Jon Duschinsky, Provision Coalition, Executive Vice President
Court Desautels, The Neighbourhood Group of Companies, President

When

Thursday, October 15

2-2:45 p.m.

Where

https://zoom.us/j/96484231452?pwd=R3lZYVhDK2hjVEFsKzg1MzZkUERMdz09

Re(PURPOSE) is powered by Provision Coalition and features the following companies:

About Our Food Future

Inspired by the planet’s natural cycles, a circular food economy reimagines and regenerates the systems that feed us, eliminating waste, sharing economic prosperity, and nourishing our communities. In Guelph-Wellington, we are working to build Canada’s first tech-enabled circular food economy that will achieve a 50% increase in access to affordable nutritious food, 50 new circular economy businesses and collaborations, and a 50% increase in circular economic benefit by recognizing the value of waste.

Media contacts

Cher Mereweather, President and CEO
Provision Coalition
519-803-6985
cmereweather@provisioncoalition.com
provisioncoalition.com

Barbara Swartzentruber, Executive Director
Smart Cities Office, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer
City of Guelph
519-822-1260 extension 3066
barbara.swartzentruber@guelph.ca
foodfuture.ca