Over 1,000 people will gather in London today (Friday 15th September) to take part in Britain’s biggest ever Disco Soup event – the new global movement to inspire action on food waste.
Hundreds of kilos of unused vegetables from markets, bakeries, farms and restaurants will be collected and chopped by volunteers to create dishes including a huge tomato and pepper soup – which will then be served free of charge to attending customers, while they dance away under a disco glitter ball to Ministry of Sound DJs!
The Disco Soup concept started in Germany, and has spread to the US, Japan and South America – and this Friday’s event, which is the biggest ever Disco Soup in the UK, will launch a three-day Sustainability Weekend at indoor/outdoor market Mercato Metropolitano in south London.
Andrea Rasca, founder of Mercato Metropolitano, said: “Disco Soup is a global movement that celebrates delicious solutions to food waste. It’s fun with a serious message. We will be collecting surplus food from companies and farms both in London and within surrounding counties which would otherwise go wasted, and create a delicious meal which is free for all, to demonstrate that surplus food can be turned into something wonderful. It’s fortunate that our next-door neighbours happen to be Ministry of Sound, and when we told them about the concept, they were delighted to offer their DJs to come and spin some tunes, so everyone can bop while they chop.”
The three-day Sustainability Weekend features a programme of free informative, fun and exciting events – all with a serious message about sustainability.
Highlights of the events include cooking classes, including pizza and pasta making, and ‘the best local fish you’ve never tried’, plus workshops such as ‘How to compost’, ‘Urban farming’, ‘Sauerkraut Crowd and Jam Session’, ‘Breads makeover’ and ‘Save our Roots’ (‘join us for our beautiful root vegetable session where we’ll show how to use every last bit of an ingredient’).
There’s also a Smoothie Bike where pedal power will create fabulous smoothies made from leftovers, as well as movie screenings at immersive Backyard Cinema, including 2012 documentary More than Honey on honeybee colonies in California, Switzerland, China and Australia, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2016 climate change documentary Before the Flood.
The Disco Soup starts at 3pm on Friday 15 September at Mercato Metropolitano, in Elephant & Castle, south London, and goes on until 11pm. To take part in the free event, register online at discosoup.eventbrite.co.uk
