A Dundee charity has expanded their community kitchen and launched a sustainable café to counteract food waste.
Signpost International opened the Roundhouse Community Kitchen in March, with chefs turning surplus food into nutritious meals.
The initiative was launched in collaboration with the Dundee Foodbank to help tackle the surge in demand for emergency food during the pandemic.
Now, the new Roundhouse Café has extended to use ingredients grown in their own garden and donated from local allotments, as well as surplus food.
The café officially opens to the public on Wednesday November 3. However, a small launch event was held this week to allow volunteers, trustees and figureheads in the local community to sample the food.
In addition to providing some typical café dishes, volunteers will serve up daily specials made from food that would usually be thrown out.
‘Close the loop’
Caroline Bentley, food and health development officer for Signpost, said: “The café shares the same vision as the community kitchen, which is to help close the loop between food insecurity and food waste.
“We’ve had lots of great feedback about what we’re trying to do.”
The Whitfield café will work to combat food waste in the city, as the charity estimates 26,000 tonnes of food goes to waste in Dundee every year.
Caroline said that the initiative has saved seven tonnes of food waste and created around 5,630 meals.
Several things could lead to edible food being wasted, such as new packaging or labelling issues.
Caroline added: “It could be issues with the labels, or the fresh fruit and vegetables might not look good enough to sell.
“So we gather these from green grocers and farm shops and make a judgement on whether the food is safe or not, which is quite different from what it might look like.
‘Tasty, nutritious food’
“There’s a difference between what is good enough to sell at a particularly high end outlets and what is still really tasty, nutritious food.”
A pay-it-forward scheme will be available for those who can afford to help out others in the community. Owners hope this will allow everyone in the local area to eat, while ensuring a consistent income for the workers.
The café is based at Signpost International’s Dundee centre on Lothian Crescent, which also houses the community kitchen.
Morven Shearer, a trustee from the charity, welcomed the new initiative.
She said: “I think it’s a fantastic addition to the community and it’s amazing to see the transformation of the space.
“They’ve got all these great ideas to develop the garden and bring in more fresh vegetables and the whole thing is just so sustainable.
‘Sustainable’
“They’re really looking after the local community as well as the work they do overseas.”
Local food banks across the Dundee distribute the community kitchen’s meals to people in need of support.
To support the Roundhouse, Signpost offer serviced offices, hot-desks, and meeting spaces to charities and “socially conscious” businesses.
Local resident Tammie Brown has used the cafe’s services in the past and has since assisted the initiative as a volunteer.
She said: “I think it’s absolutely fantastic. I think it’s going to do good things in this community.
“There’s a lot of things happening in the Whitfield community at the moment so it’s very exciting.
“I used to attend the café — before the building was all done up — and what a difference. It’s a lot more welcoming.
“I’ve actually had some of the meals from the food bank before when I had to use it.
“One of the meals was a vegetable curry and it was the best curry I’ve ever had.”
The café will be open on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am until 3pm.
