For sustainability week, the Food4Change society aimed to raise awareness for sustainability in the best possible way; with cake!

The Food4Change society is based on tackling sustainability and health issues across the university through food. According to recent stats by Fareshare, 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted by the food industry in the UK per year.

Shockingly, most of the food waste come from us, as a quarter of all food bought is thrown away, whilst 60% of it is avoidable. Meanwhile, 8.4 million people in the UK are struggling to afford to eat. This disparity in food surplus, food waste and hunger, is one of the main reasons why reducing food waste is a key item on the Food4Change’s agenda.

Food4Change aimed to inspire students how to use less than fresh ingredients from a sustainable origin in their bake sale last Wednesday. There was a vast array of delicious cakes, flapjacks and muffins (most of which were vegan) and made with brown bananas or bruised apples which many of us would automatically throw away.

In essence, Food4Change want to show how you can make something out of “nothing”. By reframing how we perceive and interact with food from purchase, consumption to wastage can make a huge difference to the amount of food unnecessarily thrown away in the food chain.

Food4Change also work with other sustainable organisations such as Rainbow Junktion, a café in Hyde Park linked to The Real Junk Food Project which uses ingredients just past their best before date rejected from supermarkets (which are still perfectly safe to eat) to make delicious meals. They operate on a Pay As You Feel basis which makes it a cheap tasty option for a meal out whilst also helping our environment and society at the same time!

If you have a passion for reducing food waste and improving health then visit the Food4Change’s Facebook page to find out how you can get involved based on the different subgroups.

The Food4Change Give It A Go is a super exciting Zero Waste Cooking Class in the Food Science Building on Campus- if you’re interested to get involved then get your skates on for signing up on the union website as they are limited spaces available!