Tom Hunt and The Forgotten Feast

Tom Hunt, the creator of the Forgotten Feast.

Thankfully it's not just householders standing by their rubbish bins at home who focus hard on food waste, there are plenty of unsung heroes in the catering sector who are tackling the issue head-on too, combatting much wider problems than we have on the home-front.  Given the challenges of Week 3 of The Rubbish Diet, I thought it quite timely to introduce a fabulous idea, known as the Forgotten Feast that's about to hit London by storm.

The Forgotten Feast is a new restaurant concept organised by Tom Hunt, (chef at waste awareness events Feeding5k and FOE), created specifically to highlight the 20 million tonnes of annual food wastage that exists within our society. Whether it’s fresh fish thrown back into the sea, vegetables ignored for being too ugly, or unusual cuts of meat simply discarded, the Forgotten Feast is making a clear and public declaration against waste

Having started in Autumn 2011, in partnership with food charity FareShare, the restaurant idea focuses on rescuing large quantities of unwanted food, that would otherwise go to waste, and turning it into luxurious feasts. Using wild and seasonal foods, wasted foods, and foods ignored by the modern world, Tom creates a stunning new menu for each occasion based on the ingredients he is provided with.

I like the fact that this is no greenwashed endeavour. The careful planning and underlying dedication and philosophies will ensure that everything from the location, to the furniture to the food, to the zero waste recycling policy will be sustainable, ultimately highlighting the waste and excess in our society and encouraging those in the food chain to do something about it.

The Forgotten Feast is officially launching this weekend, with a Valentine's spectacular at FareShare's depot in Bermondsey, providing a banquet of food for diners to enjoy.  FareShare rescues surplus food year round and delivers it to local charities all over the country and every ticket sold will enable the charity to provide an additional 80 meals for the hungry and vulnerable people they support, thanks to grant-giving charity StreetSmart who are generously matching the number of meals raised though ticket sales.


Tickets are currently available for dinner Friday 10th February, Saturday 11th, Sunday 12th (late lunch) and include 3 courses, a drink and canapés.

More information can be found at the Toms Feast website or by contacting info@tomsfeast.com.  And if you happen to be unavailable for this weekend, but would like to attend others, follow @tomsfeast on Twitter for future updates.

My mission now is to entice Tom to Suffolk.  We're such a foodie county, and I'd love to have a Forgotten Feast here for us rural folk to enjoy.