AIMING FOR A SUSTAINABLE KITCHEN

The Urban Hunter Gatherer on the road for the first time.                  Mans

My mate Andrew is a partner in a company called icology. These blokes try to shift the mindset of large corporations and their employees, encouraging them to operate more sustainably. Icology believe that businesses can have a significant influence on our urban population’s attitude towards their environment.

You can grow sprouts in any kitchen                                               Mans

Anyhoo, Andrew asked if I would do a cooking demo at Old Mutual as part of an environmental awareness campaign. After much pondering I decided to do what do I at home: try to cook healthy food in a way that has a low impact on our environment.

Coz it was a corporate, I even wore a collared shirt                    Mans

Most days, just about everybody makes a little something in their kitchen, so through cooking you can appeal to loads of people. This was a great opportunity.

I dare you to implement a 'Plant Food Cycle' in your kitchen?                                                                              Mans

To set up the stand I poached half the stuff from my own kitchen and slapped a few chalkboards together from bits of my old gate that had been cluttering up my front porch for yonks (a long time). On one of the boards I drew a ‘Plant Food Cycle’ that one could on some level apply to all kitchens. The aim of our stand was to demonstrate this cycle, while being energy and water efficient at the same time.

It was scary cooking curry for my new Indian friend, Harry

As I cooked, all the veg trimmings were thrown into the Worm Farm or Bokashi Kit; even the receptacles that the food was served in ended up as worm lunch. The washing up water was poured into a watering can and used to water the nearby plants and the potted herbs I had borrowed from my garden. In the end, I took virtually no waste away with me.

As it turned out, Andrew sent a flurry of cooking demos my way in the course of a week, which included two days at Allan Gray and a day at The Airports Company of South Africa.

Now that the craziness of the demos is over and my kitchen is back to normal, I will continue to try to be as true as possible to ‘The Plant Food Cycle’.

A worm farm and a wonder bag are two essentials in todays kitchens   Me

I would like to say thanks to me mate Dave for the loan of his homemade solar cooker, to Snappy Chef for sponsoring a safe and energy efficient induction cooker (http://www.snappychef.co.za), to Starke Ayres, who kindly gave me a Bokashi Kit and a Worm Farm to experiment with (http://www.starkeayresgc.co.za), to Ian Ian and Laura for their support when I started wheel spinning, Mans for his pics and finally to all our fellow exhibitors for their company and enthusiasm. It was a blast.

What we chomped          Me

Asian Salad served with a peanut butter dressing in cabbage leaves  Mans

'Passion Cups' with homemade yoghurt, honey and mint.              Mans