Cooking for a Cause

The Bellgrove Advisory team recently took some time to participate in a ‘Cooking for a Cause’ event with OzHarvest.

OzHarvest is Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, with a mission to stop food waste, feed people in need and protect the planet. 

Throughout the experience, we were provided with an overview of all the amazing work OzHarvest does, and the reasons why.  We were shocked to learn that in Australia we waste 7.6 million tonnes of food each year, 70% of this is perfectly edible.  This food waste costs our economy $36.6 billion a year and is also costing our environment.  Up to 10% of global greenhouse gases comes from food that is produced, but not eaten, which is worse than the total emissions from plastic production and oil extraction.  Demand for food relief is also higher than ever, with the charities OzHarvest support reporting a 75% increase in demand in the last 6 months in 2024.

The good news is, we learned that reducing food waste is the most effective thing individuals can do to address climate change. 

Our team was split into two groups, and guided by the OzHarvest chefs, we managed to whip up some delicious meals from rescued ingredients.   These included chilli con carne, Mexican green rice and lentil fatayers.  We then boxed up the food and got to take a taste test of the results.

We all had a great afternoon and learned some valuable zero-waste cooking skills that we are all now using in our kitchens at home.