We fed Cardiff... and then some!

As anyone who has ever taken part in an environmental campaign will tell you, it can be really hard work – city centre crowds on a Saturday lunchtime are usually more interested in browsing the sales than signing a petition for an international agreement on climate change. But Feed Cardiff was an environmental campaign with a difference. Organised by Cardiff Food Alliance (a coalition of Friends of the Earth , Cardiff Transition Project , Fareshare South West and The WholeLeaf Company ), an incredible 700 people were fed a tasty vegetable curry made entirely from 'surplus' food that was destined to be thrown away despite being perfectly edible. For the 30+ team of volunteers responsible for making the event happen, the work began weeks and weeks ago, negotiating the council rules and regulations for providing food to the public, and getting hold of the cooking equipment, kitchen space, transport and surplus food to turn the dream of Feed Cardiff into a reality. But things really started in earnest on Friday morning, when the washing, chopping and peeling of more than 50kg of marrows, onions, carrots, cauliflowers and potatoes began. Seven hours later, every available pot and pan in the kitchen of the Salvation Army kitchen on Corporation Road was filled with vegetables, ready to be cooked the following day. All the fresh vegetables were collected from Bessemer Road market – boxes and boxes of food that were going to be binned because they were misshapen, discoloured, or simply surplus to requirements. The rice, dried fruit condiments, poppadoms and onions were donated from Fareshare Southwest – a charity that collect surplus food from supermarkets and distribute it to homeless shelters and community groups. When the first batch of curry arrived onsite at 11.30 Saturday morning, there was already a crowd gathered at the Feed Cardiff stall, and the first customer of the day – a local Big Issue seller – sampled the fruits of the cooking team's labours (led by Wayne Thomas, head chef at the Canteen on Clifton Sreet). From that point on, the queue for the curry never disappeared – and the street was filled with smiling people and the smoke from the onsite rocket stoves. The Feed Cardiff event target was to feed 500 people – in the end, we fed 700! But the event was about more than just dishing out free dinners – as well as raising awareness of the amount of food wasted in the UK, hundreds of people signed postcards to support the Friends of the Earth campaign for a more sustainable meat and dairy industry. Due to be voted on by MPs in November, the Sustainable Livestock Bill will ensure that government subsidies go to small-scale, not factory farms, and that the practice of cutting down rainforests to grow animal feed which is imported to British cows is ended. It is difficult to think of an environmental campaign in Cardiff that has had such a positive reception from people on the street. The promise of a free curry probably helped – but the concern about food waste and unsustainable factory farming in the UK was genuine, with hundreds of people showing their support for a more planet friendly food chain. We fed Cardiff and then some! Adam Corner is one of the organisers of Feed Cardiff and writes about the psychology of communicating climate change for the Guardian here .