Feed the 5 thousand!

I was roped into volunteering at the Edinburgh Feed the 5 Thousand event today. It was an event to highlight the issue of food waste. Food that would normally go to waste (over produced or unsaleable in supermarkets etc) was used to create free meals for 5000 people (or as many as we could feed before the food ran out). There were a number of local restaurants all creating a different dish with a team of volunteers to help them. I was teamed up with the guys from Blackfriars Bar and Restaurant. I've not been to the restaurant but after today I can highly recommend it.

We spent the morning (8:30am start, ouch!) making hay-smoked beetroot (yum) and vegetable broth with a horseradish yoghurt. It was really tasty and great fun to make. I learnt a lot of useful stuff, like the fact that burning your veg makes more delicious soup and that in a pan the size of a huge vat a "pinch" of salt is a small handful.

Here's a shot of the beetroot roasting in their big green egg barbecue.