The culture of recycling in the kitchen
Active Kitchen
From the virtuous examples of chefs who fight against food waste to the experience of cutting-edge restaurants that reinvent the entire supply chain in the name of zero waste, to the practice of re-evaluating “non-compliant” vegetables… “Food should never be thrown away” is a motto that is more relevant than ever, not only for a universally shared ethical imperative but also for obvious reasons of sustainability and economics.
Let's start from home
You don't have to be a world-famous chef to support the "cause": many small daily measures are enough, starting from the kitchen and home recipes! And Lagostina, which in its choices is very attentive to environmental impact and good practices, can be a precious ally in the enterprise. You just need to exercise a little willpower and keep your mind, heart, and eyes wide open!
The words of a virtuous choice
Reuse, recycling, recovery, re-use… The “re” and “re” in this area are many and can sometimes perhaps generate a bit of confusion, if compared to the more rigorous terms of energy production… In the kitchen on the other hand we can allow ourselves a bit more freedom, at least in the use of language. One thing is certain: these words are all strongly associated with saving and also remind us to consciously exercise an ethical attitude, often tracing the old wisdom of the family or our territory. With much curiosity and satisfaction.
Waste, Leftover, Refuse
The “critical” moments of food waste are distributed along the entire food production chain from the field to the table. In our homes, we need to pay attention to three main moments. The waste is linked to the transformation of the raw material; the leftover is nothing more than what remains of meals; finally, the refusal is what we simply can no longer recover, from one or the other phase. It is precisely a different and more benevolent look at the first two moments that can often help us avoid the irreversibility of the third, or at least reduce its impact and quantity! Guided by a wisdom distributed throughout the country.
The traditions of recycling
And so pan cotto, Panzanella, ribollita , pappa al pomodoro, macaroni frittata, meatballs and meatloaves of meat and vegetables, boiled meat salads , flans and much more are back in the limelight. All regional gastronomic traditions with great inventiveness have always lavished themselves with advice and tips on recycling food and meals, a reflection of a past lacking in resources that has often left its mark on grandmothers' recipe books, now revived by the planetary environmental emergency.
An evergreen attitude
And what about the scraps from the processing of recipes? These too had not gone unnoticed by the radar and ingenuity of the past. Potato and tomato peels, broad bean and pea pods, or the peels and cores of apples or other types of fruit, cheese rinds, if properly processed, can become an ingredient in imaginative and satisfying recipes. An attitude and a practical sense that we can train again.
Let's learn from the chefs
If we want other more contemporary inspirations, there are even the chefs of renowned restaurants who today manage to combine, within personal research, the fight against waste with the composition of unusual dishes. A whole series of good practices that we can adopt derive from this. Some examples.
We now present you two classic, simple and practical recipes: the first based on vegetables and leftover meat, the second a true emblem of Tuscan cuisine.
