Destined for the dump

Peter Blakeway, Mathew Tomlinson, Rhys Arrowsmith, Jason Rowling and Nicole Kritz. Photo: Salina Galvan Photography.

The attire will be glitzy, the setting glamorous – and the food will be…rescued. And it will all be extremely grand.

Women at this year's Ladies' Long Lunch at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology's Tauranga campus on November 3 will be served food destined for the dump.

Tauranga celebrity chef and tutor Peter Blakeway will help students at Toi Ohomai prepare this year's meal solely from food that's been rescued by dozens of community volunteers.

Peter promises the unique meal will change the way people think about sustainability and rescued food.

'We throw away about 40 per cent of our food in the western world, while more than one billion people are starving. It's not acceptable.”

Hospitality, media and horticulture students at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology will be assessed on their efforts, with the event forming part of their curriculum.

Peter says his students are buzzing at the prospect of creating a menu from food that was destined to clog up our landfill.

'The ladies who are fortunate enough to secure a ticket should prepare themselves for one of the best meals of their entire lives.”

'As far as I know, this has never been done before in New Zealand – preparing a menu for 300 women all made from rescued food – it's exciting,” says Good Neighbour Trust food rescue coordinator Jackie Payne.

Good Neighbour Trust is one of two charities this year's Ladies' Long Lunch is raising funds for. Te Aranui Youth Trust is the second charity.

The Good Neighbour food rescue service started three years ago by distributing a couple of boxes of rescued food a week. Now, 90 volunteers help sort six tonnes of food every week and distribute that food to 42 charities.

Te Aranui Youth Trust works in close relationship with New Zealand Police, delivering programmes aimed at reducing offending and creating safer communities in our region.

The Ladies' Long Lunch committee is hoping to raise $100,000 this year for the two charities. The funds will be used to set up a commercial kitchen for Good neighbour Trust's food rescue initiative – and support future programmes at Te Aranui Youth Trust, including an innovative project to support the war on methamphetamine.

Only 300 tickets are available for this year's Ladies' Long Lunch at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology's Tauranga campus on November 3.

Tickets are on sale soon. If interested, email: ladieslonglunchtauranga@gmail.com

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1 comment

wrong

Posted on 06-03-2017 16:27 | By dumbkof2

its still known as BOP Polytec


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