Regina dinner sees rubbish transformed into gourmet three-course meal

It's not everyday people get to eat a gourmet feast made out of rubbish.

But Mariana Brito, head chef at pop-up restaurant The Backyard Project, says it's entirely possible, and she will be demonstrating just how to do it at a Rubbish dinner on Feb. 5 in Regina.

"I think it's really about thinking twice before we throw something in the garbage," the chef says of Rubbish: A Dinner about Food Waste.

It doesn't take a magician's touch, but rather some creative thinking and perhaps some research to turn carrot stems or wilting greens into pesto, or broccoli and cauliflower stems into a soup, she told CBC's Afternoon Edition.

The dinner, hosted by the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council, will see chefs cook a whole animal, and take three sources from black box ingredients, to assemble a meal with three courses. Malty National Brewing will also be there to create a food waste-inspired beer, with lemon and orange peels donated by a juice bar.

About $31 billion worth of food is wasted in Canada every year, according to the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council, with consumers pegged as being responsible for about half of that wastage.

We're not thinking about how the whole animal gets used and what kind of waste impact is that.- MarianaBrito, head chef at The Backyard Project

When it comes to an animal, entrails and internal organs are often discarded, rather than used as gravy, Britosaid.

"We're not thinking about how the whole animal gets used and what kind of waste impact is that."

The evening event at St. Paul's Cathedral will also include a panel of experts talking about ways to divert waste from landfills. This may include tips for consumers and industry, includingsharing food with places like Carmichael Outreachor the food bank, composting it, or working with farmers to feed the waste to pigs or chickens.

Nobody intentionally wastes food, but 40 per cent of food Canadians produce doesn't get eaten, says Joanne Fedyk, executive director of the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council.

"It's time for all of us to think about ways to change our habits and to improve the whole food system," she said.