Upcycling food: Turning waste into food!

From vegetable and fruit peels to fish skin to rind snacks, the idea is to use the ingredients that are generally thrown away and create a dish

To curb the food wastage and have a positive impact on environment, many eateries and chefs in the city are catching up on the trend of upcycling food and introducing it in the menu. From vegetable and fruit peels to fish skin to rind snacks, the idea is to use the ingredients that are generally thrown away and create a dish.

“The trend of upcycled food will have a lasting impact on how we perceive “wastage” with respect to food. In my opinion, the integration of the concept will have a pivotal role on global sustainability, which in this day and age can only be supported by value-added models such as upcycling food. We thrive to utilise every facet of the raw produce. We instil a sense of ownership for produce sourced directly from the Earth. For example, we use fish skin to make chips, mutton neck bone to make stock and any kind of vegetable peel we dehydrate them and use it as a garnish. The conceptual thought process behind upcycling food looks to readapt our perception of waste, process waste into more marketable and sustainable products constructing a waste reducing macro impact on the globe,” shares chef Tanvi Goswami, SAGA, Gurgaon.

Chef Radhika Khandelwal, chef-owner, Fig&Maple who has a few items in the menu to prevent food wastage such as Pulled Banana Peel tacos says, “What if I tell you that the peel you chuck out after eating banana has almost 35% of the fruit’s nutrients? The humble peel is an incredible source of potassium, dietary fibre and amino acids. Treat it right and you’re going to get a meat-like texture that is 100%!”

How can one upcycle food at home?

Upcycling is all about repurposing something that is deemed unusable into a new form. It is easy and you could start at home.We just have to be very mindful. Think about maximizing all the parts of the produce and plant it. Let’s take chicken and veggies. You can debone the chicken and use the meat part to make chicken curry. Remaining bones and stalks of vegetables you can save it to prepare tasty soups later on. When you peel potatoes, you can also save these peels to prepare chips with chat masala at home.