insideKENT Magazine Issue 28 - July 2014 | Page 145

CHARITY AMBRETTE WAR ON WASTE CHARITY DINNERS The award-winning Ambrette restaurants in Margate and Rye hope to draw attention to the enormous amounts of edible food we waste in Britain, through two charity dinners. Chef Patron, Dev Biswal, will create a gourmet six-course tasting menu using ingredients commonly discarded by restaurants, supermarkets, butchers, fishmongers and domestic kitchens. These include chicken skin, cauliflower stalks, coriander roots, fruit peelings, squeezed lemons, lamb’s head, fish heads, skate cheeks, beef trimmings and cheese crusts. The special menu, costing £39.95, is to be served in Rye on 17th August and also in Margate on 31st August. Proceeds will be donated to provide humanitarian aid in South Sudan via the Red Cross. The menu will feature mouldy cheese soup; crispy fried chicken skins marinated in mango, ginger and red chilli; savoury panna cotta flavoured with cauliflower stalks; fish head stew with summer vegetables; Ambrettestyle meat pie with beef trimmings and coriander root; and squeezed lemon posset with summer vegetable peelings cooked in fennel seeds, and a sugar and cinnamon compote. According to government figures, each year in Britain we discard £10 billion worth of food – equating to £480 per household. Globally, up to 50% of all food produced in the world is never consumed. In the developing world, wastage is the result of inefficient harvesting, poor storage and inadequate transportation. But in the west, sloppy habits, poor meal planning and a disconnection from food sources mean we simply just waste it. Up to 30% of fruit and vegetables grown in the UK are never harvested; crops are rejected because of size and appearance, or ploughed back because of over production. As resident chef on the Channel Four TV series, Superscrimpers, Biswal regularly shows viewers how to prepare gourmet meals on a budget using cheap ingredients, leftovers and wild plants foraged for free. ASPINALL CELEBRATES 30 YEARS AT PORT LYMPNE WILD ANIMAL PARK The Ambrette's Chef Patron Dev Biswal “The goal is to create consciousness about food waste and donate proceeds raised from the Waste Away dinners to help alleviate the dreadful humanitarian situation in south Sudan,” said Biswal. Last year, The Ambrette’s various charitable activities raised over £5,000 for local and international causes. Every Wednesday, the Margate restaurant feeds around 25 homeless people at the Cliftonville Community Centre with a meat, vegetable and rice dish. Read up on the situation in South Sudan at www.redcross.org.uk/Abouts/News/2014/April/South-Sudan-rainy-season. www.theambrette.co.uk insideKENT's FEATURES EDITOR TO GET ‘PRETTY MUDDY’ AT THIS YEAR'S RACE FOR LIFE As The Aspinall Foundation marks 30 years of conservation at Port Lympne Mansion, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in 2014, Lady Sarah Aspinall invites you to a black tie dinner on Saturday 20th September in a bid to celebrate. The dinner will not only commemorate the three decades gone by since John Aspinall started The Aspinall Foundation, but it will raise vital funds for the charity's ongoing conservation work in Africa, Madagascar and Java, plus celebrate its many achievements to date. With John's son, Damian Aspinall, now the chairman of The Aspinall Foundation, it continues to build on its successes, working with conservation partners across the world and progressing the fight for the conservation of wildlife through reintroduction, protection and awareness. Funds from this special dinner are to be raised through silent and live auctions on the night, for which there are some wonderful prizes. Aspinall are very much looking forward to hosting an evening of fine food and entertainment for their guests at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, all the while raising funds for a wonderful cause. A ticket for this prestigious event is £150 per person, and a table of 10 is £1500. If you would like to find out more, contact the fundraising team on 01303 234199 or [email protected]. On 12th July 2014, insideKENT's features editor, Gemma Dunn, will be taking part in her third consecutive Race for Life event alongside lifelong friend, Sarah Bear