Public Health Nutrition from Foodies in the Field
Public Health Nutrition from Foodies in the Field
Uncovering the Hidden Harvest, with Maree Thomson
Maree Thomson is the Managing Director for Hidden Harvest, a local food waste organisation. In this episode Maree talks through their advocacy work with Hidden Harvest, transforming the problem of food waste into delicious opportunities and serving up tasty insights into how we can cook up positive change in our kitchens at home.
For all things Hidden Harvest, visit and connect with their
- Newsletter (+ volunteering opportunities)
- Facebook page & group (share your food waste triumphs, questions and knowledge)
You can also connect with Maree via their Linked In profile.
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CREDITS
Host: Sophie Wright-Pedersen
With thanks to Maree Thomson for their time and thoughts
The Foodies in the Field podcast would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast was made, the Turrbal and Yuggera people, as well as the lands from where Maree was speaking and where you may be listening from today. We pay respects to elders both past and present and acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were the first foodies of this nation.
Sophie: [00:00:00] Welcome to Public Health Nutrition from Foodies in the Field, a podcast showcasing stories from passionate foodies about who they are and what they do. I'm Sophie Wright-Pedersen, your podcast host. And on today's show we have Maree Thomson. Maree is the managing director of Hidden Harvest, a volunteer driven food waste organization based in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. Coming from a background in food sociology, Maree is a dedicated community builder with a passion for the connective power of food. Maree talks all about their advocacy work through Hidden Harvest and how they transform the problem of food waste into delicious opportunities through all of their events. Along our conversation, some tasty insights are also served up into how we can all cook up positive change in our kitchens at home. I guess like to start with, I should disclose that I've known you for quite a while, Maree. I used to volunteer within Hidden Harvest back about, I think it's like five years ago now, which seems so long ago, but also so recent, and it's just been so wonderful to watch the growth of Hidden Harvest from afar. And so I'm actually really excited to sit down and chat with you about all things in Hidden Harvest today so thanks for coming on the show, Maree.
Maree: You're more than welcome. Pleasure to be here.
Sophie: Yeah, absolutely. So let's just dive straight in. So tell me, Maree, what is Hidden Harvest? What's it all about and what's it aiming to achieve?
Maree: Okay, so Hidden Harvest, we're a local not-for-profit, to Wollongong we started in 2015, which is actually before my time with the organization. I started volunteering 2016 and as whole it's about building connection around food and bringing consciousness back to cooking. There's a lot of food waste in our world and in our communities that can be really easily navigated just by being a little bit more intentional in the kitchen and being a little bit more aware and just slightly changing habits. So it's, it's about sparking that conversation. Yeah, bringing that awareness to people that might not think about it otherwise. And we do that through food. So a lot of our events is eating food that would've otherwise gone to waste.
Sophie: I guess with Hidden Harvest, like where did it all start and how has it kind of grown over, I guess, like the past seven years?
Maree: So our founder is a lovely woman called Berbel Franse. A dear friend of both of ours. She was over in Ghana. She works in supply chain management and she was, the stories that I've been kind of told was she was walking around the markets and saw that once food got, got to kind of the stalls and people bought it, everything was utilized and a lot of the that she saw is actually. Through the, like the infrastructure, so the transport or the lack of refrigeration, things like that. And when she came back to Australia, she saw it as kind of the opposite, like we've got really good infrastructure over here, but a lot of the waste food waste that is generated is from our kitchens at home. You know, not storing correctly or, or not cooking with all of the bits of the vegetables. There's just a little bit less of, I guess, a connection and I almost wanna say respect for the produce itself. There's a bit of disposability there and she was like, oh, let's do something about that and, and Hidden Harvest was started it was a very like small scale at the beginning. A lot of like community dinners, just conversations about this big food waste topic and what individuals at home can kind of do about it in a really like friendly and positive way. We've grown up quite a lot since then, but we've kept that kind of ethos of taking this like big scary, massive issue of food waste cuz it, it is just that, but trying to keep it with this positive perspective that like everybody eats, so everyone has an opportunity to kind of have that positive impact in changing the problem.
Sophie: Absolutely. And I guess like thinking broadly about food waste in Australia., Hidden Harvest does target, I guess more the individual level, like individuals and what they can do in their home. Is there a reason behind that?
Maree: Yeah, yeah. So we're really aware that, you know, food waste happens at all levels of the food system, but where we have action and the possibility to make impacts straight away is in our kitchens at home. And it's not to kind of, I guess, put all the responsibility of fixing this, you know, issue on individual people. But that's kind of where we have our power and every time we eat or cook, whatever goes onto our plate or doesn't make it to the plate, that choice has impacts that run on from that. And that's kind of what we're trying to bring attention to is, you know, a chance to make a difference every [00:05:00] time you open your mouth to put something tasty in there.
Sophie: Yeah, for sure. I guess a really important question, I think is why do you think food waste is such an important issue that we should be addressing within our food system?
Maree: Well, there there are different couple of different ways you can kind of look at that, like, The, the fact that has really stuck with me through all of this is if food waste were a country, it would actually be the third largest emitter of greenhouse acids behind the US and China, which kind of puts, I guess, that whole global situation into perspective of food has a massive role to play in, you know, sustainability and fighting climate change. And that's a really big kind of opportunity if you wanna look at it like that. And the, the way we kind of eat in our kitchens and cook in our kitchens is there's so much potential there, which I think gets a little bit isolated from, there's this idea that, you know, one person can't really make a difference. That if you keep in mind that global scale, and it's like every single time food. There's even a choice about food like that has flow on impacts that consolidate into this huge, huge thing. But it, it just breaks it down into a really, I guess, digestible way. Yeah. We love a good one, but that's, that's kind of what it does. It's like you break down this huge thing into something that you can actually interact with and it doesn't make it scary. It makes it, you know, I, I think quite fun cause it's like, It turns it into a bit of a challenge rather than this. Big issue that you have. What, what can I do? You know, it's like, oh
Sophie: yeah. It's almost like a creative process. Like definitely I've got this thing that I might not have used before or like even thought about using before and, and what can I do about that? Or how can I be creative in the ways to reduce the waste from. Whatever product it might be. And so you came on, like you said in 2016 as a volunteer, but what's your role now at Hidden Harvest?
Maree: So the role I have now is managing director. So I, I run Hidden Harvest. It's now my. My fun baby project
Sophie: not so babies.
Maree: Guess not So baby. Fully fledged teenager at this point. Yeah. But uh, yeah, I started 2016. I was actually over in Canada when I came across it. I did.
Sophie: Oh, really?
Maree: Yeah. Yeah. I, I was just kind of figuring out I was about three years into my degree and I was just figuring out like food sociology is what I'm interested in. Cause I did a double of sociology and sustainable development and food. Yeah, food kind of was this like fun, tasty intersection for my brain. Cause it kind of. Food links everything to everyone and everything in between in how I see it. So it's, it is a really cool connector that highlights a lot of, a lot of issues in that sense. So I was over there and I was, you know, thinking about all of that. I was like, Surely there's something in Wollongong, but like I can get into that, you know, that's a long this track. And so I'm, you know, Googling over in Calgary and see Hidden Harvest and it was like, I guess pretty fresh back then. It was just over a year into. It's existence and found one of the events and messaged and now good friend Josie. And I was like, hi, can I volunteer for, for whatever you're doing? Like, what is this? Like I want in. And then I just didn't stop, I just loved it. It, it brought me a really beautiful community of people that were really like sustainability minded and they're all real cool and we ate good food and it was just fun. Yeah. So I kind of. Just a, just a lovely volunteer for a bit, and then became the volunteer coordinator for a couple of years, and then in 2019 Berbel decided that she wanted to step back after a very long, beautiful run with the organization when she asked me if I wanted to, to take over and to give it a go and to keep it going. And yeah, at that point, No. Wasn't even a thought in my mind.
Sophie: right?
Maree: Yeah.
Sophie: Okay, so you said yes, obviously
Maree: I did say yes. Yeah.
Sophie: And so was there like a transition period? Like how did that kind of go with you taking on that role?
Maree: It was interesting cuz that was the end of 2019 and then. Yeah. a couple of months later we got hit by the event challenge. So that was, that was interesting. I was, yeah, it was a bit, it was a bit rocky to be honest, cuz I, I was working for the City of Sydney at that point as well, doing the Food Waste Recycling program, rolling that out for the city. And Hidden Harvest was, you know, chugging along. We were getting more and more [00:10:00] events and they were getting busier and busier and it really looked like, it was kind of like, you know, I've had to do some things and it didn't go completely to plan I, I'm, you know, I, can laugh about it now, but it was a, it was a bit, bit tricky at the time, but it was, it was actually kind of in disguise. I, I'm gonna roll with bittersweetly, just cuz it, it kind of gave it two years of transition essentially into like, Figuring out, you know, what events to come back with. But I think we came out of it, we managed to sneak out of food waste in between lockdowns in February last, and that was kind of like our entry back into it, which is
Sophie: that's well done.
Maree: Yeah. And I was very grateful to be able to swindle that somehow. And then we went back into Lockdowns for a couple of months. But it was fun. Like it kind of made us really grateful for when we could have events and really disintentional with what we were putting on. Yeah. Some cool things came out of it though, like cuz we had to exist, I guess online and virtually for the majority of that two-year period, just cuz we couldn't have our community dinners and our installations and our workshops just, you know, for, health,, all of that. So we really invested in like the online platforms and the virtual community elements of Hidden Harvest, which was. Which is still going now we've got the Hidden Harvest community now and Facebook and really like invested in Instagram and our social workshops and stuff.
Sophie: Definitely. And like with, I mean if people, just as like a side by, if people are interested in volunteering for Hidden Harvest, is there an easy way to do that?
Maree: Yeah. If, if they sign up to our newsletter, I put out call outs for volunteers and if, if there is someone that wants to get involved, I can kind of have a chat to them. And there are a lot of different, like if it's like more in the kitchen, if cooking's kind of their vibe or if it's just for events, like we can kind of find a space that makes them happy. So there's, there's a lot of opportunities.
Sophie: Awesome. You've kind of touched on a few of them, but what are the things that you, you do as part of Hidden Harvest to engage that community?
Maree: Yeah, I think our, our main one for the past little bit has been our community dinners. So they're called Wasted Wednesdays, which I love. And we were collaborating with our local bar Births and Deaths. They're a sustainable gin bar that has really cool kind of ethos use all that they can in the fruit, um, and behind the bar just minimize waste, which is really cool. And that was kind of like a, a really cool outreach tool cuz it's a three-course feast made out of would be waste. And that in itself is a really cool conversation starter, you know, if there's a, a person who who knows us and they bring their friends and they're like, what is this? Like, this is delicious. How, how was this gonna go in the bin? And it's, that's kind of like the, that word of mouth and it's just, People are incredulous. They're like, I don't understand like how, how this is in front of me. It highlights to people this weirdly invisible problem because like, yeah, we've been trained for most of our lives now to ignore our waste and we're really having to like deconstruct that idea and re-highlight like it is, it is a thing and it is something you can interact with. So that in itself is like, was our main outreach, just cuz we had to be a bit more, I guess, concentrated in our efforts. Just cuz the team had gotten a little bit smaller through the pandemic and the vollies were a little bit stretched, I suppose. We also do like workshops. We've been doing the reels on Instagram, which have been quite fun. Just highlighting like really easy ways to use what's in your fridge.
Sophie: Definitely. And you've just had the art of food waste.
Maree: Yeah.
Sophie: I mean it seems like it's gone forever back. What is it? And I guess like how long did it go for and what kind of was part of all of that?
Maree: So the art of food waste is our food art community extravaganza. It did feel like it went, it went for a while. It was two weeks from beginning to end, a little mini, mini festival. For us as, I guess a concept, it's, it's about us, you know, sparking that food waste conversation, but in, in a different fun format. So what we did was we put the word out to local artists and asked them to create art on the food waste theme, and they take that and create so many different unique beautiful works that, that we had like sculptures and we had, you [00:15:00] know, food dye made out of like mushrooms and then felt works, and then someone had put food waste out on a canvas to rot and then put it in resin with and embellished it with all of these beautiful colours. I like, and it's a. It was just, it was, it was lovely. It's always so much fun. But that in itself is kind of, you know, sparking, sparking that kind of food waste conversation with the artist, but also with the people looking at the art and everyone that comes through the exhibit. So we had like, A lot of special events, which were all a lot of fun. We had our opening night, which was lovely, a couple of gig nights in collab with Holy Pavlova, which is like a local production agency, which is pretty fun. A panel discussion, life drawing. It was just kind of like opening it up from, you know, our usual community dinners to just like, everything. That's just fun cuz it's, it's still in, in that conversation of just getting people through it and, and having a good time about it. Yeah,
Sophie: and I think like, we'll obviously like link all of your socials and stuff and the show notes, but I like to, anyone that is listening to this very much implore you to go to the Hidden Harvest Instagram and all the other social pages because the photos are just phenomenal. Like, it just, it looks fun. It's it, you can just see how it would spark that conversation because I mean, that's what art's all about, right? Like it's about interpreting something and then having a conversation about it, and you're bringing a different community in. It's just, yeah, again, like so beautiful to see how that's kind of grown over the past few years in two weeks. It's, it's awesome. And it's, it looked like you actually collaborated with quite a lot of organizations for that event. Like how did that all go?
Maree: Yeah, no, that was definitely like something I went into creating art of food waste with this time round just because we really appreciate and are grateful for all of the links we have with the local organizations that are doing really cool things. So for me it was like my art of food waste, I guess is, is collabing with all of all of the different people doing great things. It was just, for me, it was a cool way just to branch out even more and to reach out into communities that exist for these organizations already and kind of bring them into our space and our conversation, which I think worked quite well.
Sophie: Yeah, definitely. And like, like you say, like your branching into their acute communities, and it just means you're having a greater reach.
Maree: Like Exactly.
Sophie: You're connecting with people that potentially might not have connected with Hidden Harvest before in like the traditional ways that you have been conducting like events as well. Yeah. I did wanna ask, you touched on at the very start that you incorporate foods that otherwise would be thrown out or can't be used, and I was just wondering if you could give a bit more insight into, you know, what are those foods where you get them from, and kind of how you then up cycle them into the events that you do have?
Maree: We have like a network of produce wholesalers in Wollongong and bakeries as well. So the, the main one, it, it services a lot of the cafes and restaurants in the local area. So I'm talking like warehouse kind of vibes of bulk foods. So I'll get a call from them every other week saying that there's, you know, seconds to pick up. The thing, the produce that gets to that point, it's for a few reasons. It can be past its freshness peak, so it might be a little bit squishy or a little bit bruised, so they don't wanna sell it to, you know, their customers. There can be surplus, so maybe they've got like another, you know, shipment of the fresh ones and they'll sell those at a priority rather than the ones that are a little bit less fresh. Aesthetics can kind of come into it, although, The the one we kind of work with, they're pretty good about that cuz they have the storefront as well. Yeah. So that's kind of there a couple of different avenues that we get food, but we pick that up and from that point, it's kind of like a bit of a mystery box, vibe. We've got, I've got this tiny little hatchback and I'll go to the, the Warehouse and they'll roll out this massive trolley, and I'll just have boxes upon boxes of just like, you know, I've, we've, we've had like, Three trays of, you know, mandarins or one time I got 10 boxes of lettuce, like the really large scales, quantities of, of things that you just say, how do I go about this? But we have, we have a kitchen down in Port Kembla that I take all that to and get in the kitchen, kind of like get it all out and be like, all right, what's the vibe? And it. Depends on what event we have coming up. So if it's a, if we've got a wasted Wednesday on that week or leading up to it, we'll you know, prioritize prepping the three courses [00:20:00] of whatever it it kind of comes with. So it really depends what we get. But we also do our toasties as well, which is, um, Has been quite a fun project to develop over the past couple of years.
Sophie: So what's that one?
Maree: Yeah, so there we create toasties, gourmet Toasties out of would be wasted produce. So we pick up bread from the local bakery that they haven't sold for that day. Fresh Bread is probably one of the, not probably, fresh Bread is one of the biggest waste items in Australia, so there's always, always a fair bit of it. So we get a couple bags of that, take it to the kitchen, and then different flavours and again it fully depends on what we're given. I've done like Moroccan pumpkin or curry potatoes or miso mushroom toasties, like, so they're, they're, they're not your standard like, you know, ham, cheese, tomato kind of vibes, but they're, they're pretty tasty. I'm a little bit biased, but I've, I've had good feedback as well, but it's, it's very much what we're given and we just try and upcycle it in a way that, you know, I guess brings respect back to the produce and shows people that, not even shows them. It just, it just lets it be appreciated for what it is as still delicious and still nutritious and very much not worthy of being waste. Yeah. So we, we cater different events with that as well, usually kind of gigs, um, lately.
Sophie: Yeah. Cool. I think that was like, that was always my favourite moments at Hidden Harvest was just, You'd get all this produce into the kitchen and you'd just be like, there'd just be this massive like workshopping moment of like, what could we make of this?
Maree: Just hands on tips. Just being like, what
Sophie: I was always, was always so incredible of like the things that people would come up with and it, it definitely, there was a few people who were just, you know, there would be trained chefs or they just really knew how flavours worked and you'd just be like, wow, that, yep. Let's, let's do that. And so I guess like my follow up question on that is like, what do you think some of the most creative moments or dishes have been that you've seen kind of come out of the Hidden Harvest kitchen over the years?
Maree: I've seen quite a few, but I mentioned it before the 10 boxes of lettuce. So it might have, I'm not like talking about 10 boxes of like, you know, iceberg type of thing. It was. Maybe more, but 10, 10 boxes of like 10 or five kilo bulk bags of like mesclun mixed lettuce. And they, they're packed, like they're plump boxes of lettuce and. We just, we were giving some out, but we were like, that's not gonna cut it. We've got. Like 50 kilos of lettuce, like how do we even deal with that? But we also got a couple bags of potatoes in that as well. And luckily it was for a wasted Wednesday. It was happening that night. So our chef at the time, Georgia created it was. It was a lettuce potato soup, which sounds kinda gross. Like I, I couldn't admit that. But it, it was essentially this like delicious roast potato soup. Like that's what it tasted like, but it was bright green cuz she had blended lettuce for it. And it was like, you couldn't, you couldn't taste the lettuce. You, it didn't really impact it at all except for the colour, cuz it was actually a bit, you know, Willy Wonka kind of vibes. You're eating this like bright green situation and it's this delicious roast potato flavour and you're like, what is happening in my mouth right now? But yeah, and that, it still kind of gets brought up quite a bit, like among the volumes or like people who are at that, they're like, I just, I still think about it. It's, it's just a bit funny cuz it's like guess if you know lettuce, when you think about it, it's a green leaf. You do the same spinach, you do the same with kale. Like it's not that weird, it's just that it's, you know, lettuce is a salad, you know, in our head. So it was, it was I think a bit of a ground-breaking moment for a lot of people.
Sophie: Literally that moment of like, you could do anything with anything. And I think that's a really important like thing that Hidden Harvest does with all this conversation, but it really breaks down this stigma that surrounds food and like how food, both from like, I guess the norms around what foods can be used for what, but also obviously like if a food is, you know, an apple is slightly bruised, it doesn't mean that you chuck the whole thing in the bin or that it shouldn't get sold in a supermarket. And I think that's just the beauty of it. Like I remember, I think those foods like lettuce. Are really difficult to use because you are like, I only really put it in [00:25:00] salad. Or like, San choy bow would be like the next step. But I've like, I think I want stir fried lettuce.
Maree: That is very much it. It's like, It's breaking. Well, it's, it's tricky cuz it's like, you only really know what you're exposed to. So it's like, unless you've grown up in a, in a house that grills their lettuce, like, you're probably not gonna have that in your, your toolkit when you're in the kitchen looking at all this lettuce. Like, how am I gonna finish this? But I mean, like, you know, with social media and everything, it's definitely gotten a lot easier to get that information. But it's, it's cool. Like, I think. Hidden Harvest, and I've had a lot of people say this to me as well. Like it's just this curiosity of like, what can I do with this? Like I still, I still remember like my kind of breakthrough hidden harvest moment is what I kind of think back onto it as. I was, I had a couple of heads of cauliflower that I got from a local market and it, they were still had all of those big, beautiful leaves on it. And I remember like cutting the head off and you know, putting the florets in the oven and I just had this big pile of leaves and I was just looking at it. I was like, surely I can eat. Surely I can eat them. I hadn't, it was before like kale chips kind of took off and all of that, so it wasn't, you know, super a thing. But I was like, surely, like, why could I eat the florets and I couldn't eat the leaves? Like that does not make sense to me. And I Googled it and it's like, you just put 'em in the oven and they're delicious. And I was just like, I've cracked it.
Sophie: And, and I think that's such a, like, I mean definitely to anyone definitely Googling cuz there's some foods like rhubarb. Don't eat the leaves, don't eat the don't eat the leaves. But. Like we literally have like all the answers to all the questions at like the touch of a button.
Maree: Yeah.
Sophie: You can just Google it. Like it's just be like you say, be curious and be like excited to get creative. And it's not, it's sometimes not difficult. It is quite literally chopping some cauliflower leaves up. Putting some oil on them and chucking them in the oven. Like it doesn't need to be, you know, make sourdough from scratch, , or something like vibes is just, sometimes it's really simple. It's just that you might not have ever thought about it before.
Maree: Yeah. And, and that's the thing, like that's kind of, I guess you're asking that at the beginning. It's just, it is these little things that do kind of culminate in the impacts that come out of your kitchen. It's like, for me, like that night I saved like a kilo of food waste there. And then by roasting those leaves instead of, you know, putting them in the compost and it's just like, that as a repeated habit, like that is huge. Like, and I don't think people kind of recognize that or kind of like give that the, you know, the respect that it. It in my mind deserves.
Sophie: Yeah, for sure. And do you have any top tips, like from being with Hidden Harvest? Is there any kind of top things you think people can action right now that might have maybe a really big impact or it's something that kind of comes up all the time? That's probably common to quite a few people.
Maree: Yeah. The, the biggest thing that people can do is to eat their leftovers. And that's like, that's the the simplest thing, what leftovers is one of the biggest food waste kind of stats that come out of our kitchens at home. Like we have proper intentions to eat it, but it just kind of gets pushed to the back of the fridge and it ends up kind of, you know, not getting eaten like we kind of thought. But eating leftovers, shopping with a list is a really big one. And kind of connected to that is checking your cupboards and fridge. While you write that list, like just to see what's in the kitchen at home before you bring more things into it, knowing the difference between Best Before and used by is another big one. So for people who don't know, I suppose like used buy is, is a bit more absolute. Like it's generally got some health concerns afterwards, but Best before is more of like peak freshness. They're, they're probably the big ones, but the easiest, most delicious one is to eat your leftovers,, that's it. Like that's, if that's all you do, that's huge.
Sophie: Yeah, for sure. I think there's, there's some really good ones and I think the best before, like it is really good to check cuz some foods are, like yogurt for example, actually has a best before, even though milk will have a used buy. I never thought about that until I started actually checking and I was like, oh, you can actually eat yogurt, obviously not like two months after, but you can sometimes eat yogurt past its best before date because it is like a fermented food and so it. Necessarily going off, it's maybe just getting a few more probiotics,
Maree: stronger but's the thing. It's like we, we've kind of lost a lot of our, I guess, skills in the, the kitchen area of knowing what's okay for us. Like we, we do have, I guess this, you know, we have [00:30:00] to kind of trust these things because we don't really know either way of what's okay. But it's. You know, use your, use your senses. Like smell it, look at it like Google it, like you'll be okay..
Sophie: Like there's some foods like, you know, rice, don't eat that past like maybe two days in the fridge.
Maree: There's, there, there are like, you know, the stats for sure that you should follow. But it's just, I guess like that confident curiosity of is this a thing that I could do? And then checking and be like, okay, yes, no, but it's like not just assuming or diving in or throwing it away, cuz you're like, oh, I'm not sure. It just put that away. It's just like, check for sure you be interested in it. Like give it a go.
Sophie: And even like, I guess thinking about why you are throwing things out, like stopping to reflect on, you know, are you freezing a kilo of rice and then being I can't defrost a kilo of rice and then like I can't eat it again and I can't rephrase it like, you know, small batch freeze it. Just little things that really stopping and reflecting and going, why am I throwing things out? And then can I do it differently, I guess, as well?
Maree: Yeah. And like if, if people super wanna see that there are like food audits that you can do in your kitchen at home of just like checking at their, you know, having a log next to the compost bin or whatever and being like, I threw out this on this day. Like, and then at the end of the week being like, Right. I do that a lot. Or at the end of the month being like, oh, okay, I just shouldn't buy bags of spinach because I, I never get through it. And I always throw out this sad bag of green mush at the end of the week. You know, it's like, that's, yeah. It's like the disposability kind of thing is a bit, I guess, ingrained into us that we, we don't see it until we actually sit down and be like, okay, what am I doing? And then it's in front of you.
Sophie: And I guess that touches on, like you mentioned, compost. Like obviously there are some foods that, you know, just, you just can't use or I don't know, like it's gotten to the point where you, you just cannot use it. I guess what we're talking about is the best way is to try and use it as much as you possibly can, but then what are kind of some other steps from there that you could do? Maybe in between It actually still ending up in like the landfill bin.
Maree: Yeah, like so, so obviously like Hidden Harvest we are aiming to get people to use it while it's still usable. That's kind of the ultimate goal. But if you know you are kind of getting to the point, or it's gotten to the point where you're like, that's actually a health hazard, I'm not gonna touch that anymore. It's, you know, green mush or something, a bit too squishy. Compost is, is generally the next best thing. Yeah. It's the, the landfill is kind of like, that's, that's generally just not ideal because of how food breaks down in the landfill. So when, when food is sent to landfill, what happens is it, it's put into an anaerobic atmosphere. So that means like, because it's all packed in, in this big pile, there's no oxygen getting to it. So food breaks down in that environment it creates methane. So methane is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of greenhouse gases. So it's like, it, it's pretty lethal in, in terms of, you know, climate change and all of all of that. When food is broken down in an atmosphere with oxygen, which is what like compost is, it's, it lets it break down with oxygen so it becomes carbon and nitrogen rather than methane. So it's a, it's, it still allows that process of breaking down, but in a way that is, Much more friendly to our environment as a whole.
Sophie: Yeah, definitely. And it can be, you know, repurposed for, you know, gardening and all that kinda stuff as well. I wanted to ask as well, like, have you seen any changes in the conversation about food waste from when you started in this space?
Maree: I think people are just in general, way more aware of it is what is what I've kind of noticed. And there's been so many things that have kind of fed into that overall situation and the pandemic highlighted a lot of issues with our food system, like food scarcity, food prices, the things that we've come to really rely on because that's, you know, the system that a lot of people are existing within without any kind of knowledge of how to get out of that or to change it or to influence it. So there's also been a really. Lovely rise in interest in like local food systems and creating resilience in those local food systems and market gardens and trying to bring a little bit more intention to how people consume as well has been a very like strong interest in people. There's been. You know, huge growth in food waste [00:35:00] organizations like Oz Harvest for instance even locally with us, like we've become a bit of, a bit of a, a thing in Wollongong somehow that people, people know, like Hidden Harvest and know that Hidden Harvest does food waste. It's, it's a thing that people are kind of aware of more often than not, rather. Having to start from scratch, being like, oh, food waste is an issue because it's kind of like a lot of people, or I guess, you know, that are in my bubble at least a lot of people, like you're aware of it, like it's food waste, you know, is an issue. Sure. Cool. Agreed. What can we do about it? Type of thing. Even like in our local situation with, you know, food fairness and healthy cities and their food programs. We've just launched the online farmer's market as well, which is like a really great initiative for our local food system. Bringing that convenience to, to people in a way that still strengthens our local producers and local farms. It's, it's a very cool like thing to say, just like all of these new platforms kind of coming about with this focus on strengthening the food system like that, I think has definitely been experiencing like a greater rallying around, which is very cool.
Sophie: Yeah, for sure. And Hidden Harvest does have such a huge engagement, especially with like the younger population, young adult population in Wollongong. Is there anything there that you think is particularly successful or like drivers of that success in engaging in that space?
Maree: We are a young team, like all of the different forms of that, like we are kind of young adults creating events for young adults to get them interested in this. So it's, I guess, quite intentional with what we put on and how we market it and the conversations that we're having. Ones of interest to that, you know, target audience of young adults, just cuz. They're usually like at uni and aware of the situation and just keen to kind of be a part of like a positive space that you, they know is making a difference in a way that makes them feel good. And also changes stuff for the better. You know, it's like we're just ticking kind of a lot of boxes of like, here's this fun thing, but also. Here's the impact it's having that you don't actually need to do anything. You're already doing it, and here are some more things you can do that are really easy. And they're like, sick, I love this. It's, it's creating that community and it's keeping that positive energy in light of this big issue.
Sophie: And like you say, small things that people can do that are quite achievable. And also, like, I'm sure it meets other people's priorities of like saving money. Yeah. And also maybe like you. Trying to reduce climate change, in fact. Just to see.
Maree: Yeah, I mean, like that's usually, I mean, I like to think it's usually an undertone. Yeah. But it's like, that's the thing. It's just like you're saving money. Like I think the average household gets around three grand. I can't remember the specific kind of stat, but it's, it's something like, you know, two to three grand per year of, you know, wasted groceries. And it's like that for a uni student who's like, you know, on Centrelink and, you know, just doing their best like, that's huge. It, it's like, you know, every little. Shop you do, like, something gets wasted and then by the end of the year you've, you've wasted all of these things and it's like, ah,
Sophie: it all adds up.
Maree: It all adds up.
Sophie: But yeah, and making that change every day. And I, I guess that touches on like what have been some of the biggest, I guess, impacts or outcomes that you have seen that Hidden Harvest has achieved over the past seven, eight years.
Maree: The, the super cool one I think is the amount of food we've rescued, which is probably a little bit more than this, this figure that I have just cuz we started doing it a year or so in, but we're up to like 11,800 something kilos of food kept out of landfill, which,
Sophie: Oh gosh,
Maree: huge. And then you've got the start of like, it's 22,000, you know, kilos of CO2 that's been saved from being emitted into the atmosphere and that's just from, you know, our workshops and our community dinners. And that's, that's not even counting the kind of flow and effects of, you know, what people take home and utilize like those habits and then save food in their houses. It's, that's just like our impacts.
Sophie: Wow.
Maree: Specifically, and it's just cool thinking of that as this big flow diagram of like, we're doing this, but every time we do this we're, you know, influencing and opening [00:40:00] people up to doing it in their kitchens and then they do it and their spaces and then it flows on.
Sophie: Just to kind of maybe put it into perspective, like what is 11,000 kilos and like, I guess, is there something that you could compare to that? Or also is there anything that you can compare to, was it 22,000 kilos of co2?
Maree: Yeah, I'm just on the Google, right? Well, T-Rex is 8,800. Oh so of that. Sorry. Okay. And an African elephant, like a big one that's 11,000 kilos.
Sophie: Okay, so you've literally saved an elephant from going into landfill worth of food,
Maree: apparently. Is that?
Sophie: Wow.
Maree: It's pretty huge. And then with the, with the other start of the 22 tons of co2, so the average car emits just under five. So it's kind of, we've got about four cars off the road for a full year. Yeah.
Sophie: And that's just through your like dinners and stuff, like you said, like the flow on impacts. Like imagine if you could measure that.
Maree: Yeah, I mean that’s, that would be the key..
Sophie: And also like it's in the Illawarra, like it's obviously localized as well.
Maree: Yeah. And that's the thing, like we're, we're a pretty small, like in the grand scheme of things, we're a pretty small organization run by, you know, a pretty small team. We've, you know, had events for the past like seven, eight years now. The biggest one, I guess, is out of food waste in terms of like a single event. But it's like they're quite, we're working on a pretty small scale, but it's. Pretty hugely impactful. That's the thing, and it's like, I think that highlights like the potential in this space of, you know, if people do kind of like, you know, eat their leftovers, shop with a list, like figure out how to store their food correctly so it lasts for longer. It's like these are the little things that do end up saving this much food and will continue to save that much food every, every year after that, it's like, it doesn't just stop.
Sophie: For sure. And do you have any other like call outs or advocacy points? Like would you, I guess, where would you like to see more action happening? Either at an individual level or even more broadly like in this space.
Maree: I think building that resilience in the local food system, like wherever your listeners are, is kind of the, the, I think the next big thing, like I said, it was very highlighted in the recent pandemic how many gaps there are and potential difficulties come across like this big supermarket kind of scale of food system. And there are like a, a lot of. Could be a whole other podcast that ever, you know, there are some, you know, downsides to it, but I think if people can take the opportunities to invest in their local food system, wherever that kind of makes sense for them. I'm not saying everyone needs to shop at the Friday morning markets, if that's, you know, not available to them, but just kind of like thinking of, of where those opportunities are for them even just figuring out like what market gardens are happening around you or you know, if there's a, a food tour of the local kind of community that you can go on. Or if there's like workshops run by a, a local business or, or something where it just kind of connects you into that food system around you rather than it being something you just tap into every time you go to the supermarket.
Sophie: Yeah, and it sounds a little bit like also getting people maybe to connect more with the food. That they do. Like we consume food multiple times a day. Like being connected with that and appreciating where it comes from and like the journey it's been on. I guess potentially also highlighting like when you do waste it, like the amount of resources that has contributed to that, even being in your cupboard, like it's not just the food that's getting wasted, everything else that's happened before then as well, and localized food systems reduce those resources, but also I guess, highlight and connect people to food maybe a little bit more than, you know, big scale supermarkets as well.
Maree: It's where the person can kind of get to as well. Like if,
Sophie: definitely,
Maree: if all is available to you is a Woolworth, like you can still be just as an intentional within that context as you could be at, you know, the farmer's market.
Sophie: And are there any, like, you talked about a lot of the stuff that Hidden Harvest has done, but is there any plans for future events or have you got any other kind of growth plans coming up
Maree: we are going into a bit of a, an [00:45:00] almost hibernation after art of food waste. Just kind of like taking stock of what's really worked and, and what kind of could be a little bit better, and then hopefully coming out of winter with some really cool events. Is the plan. So stay tuned.
Sophie: Yeah,
Maree: is the, is the final answer for that.
Sophie: I did see that your website is under renovation, but people can obviously still sign up to a newsletter, so I'm guessing that's probably the best way to keep in the loop as well as social media and all that kind of stuff.
Maree: Exactly. So newsletters is the best point to do, or just follow us on Instagram or Facebook is next best thing if you don't like your emails.
Sophie: My final question to you is, what has been your favourite food experience?
Maree: My favourite food experience? That's rude. This. I'm not sure why this is jumping into my head, but I'm gonna tell you anyway, like it's, it's kind of funny cuz I, I'm now vegan and it's like, which is besides the point, but my mum's lasagne, which is very much not vegan, is popping into my head. It's just every memory I have around that is just like a family dinner of just like, This delicious, surrounded by this delicious meal with with people that I love and it's like that. I think as an energy has very much stuck with me and there's been a lot of I don’t know, you know potlucks and friend feasts.
Sophie: Oh yeah.
Maree: Since that point. And I think, oh, it's very hard to pick between them anything that has that kind of community. Beautiful vibe.
Sophie: Thank you so much for coming on the show, Maree. It's been such an insight into Hidden Harvest and all things food waste, and it's so beautiful to kind of hear about how it's all grown. Yeah. I'm just really excited to continue to see that growth in the future and see what kind of comes next from everything that you're working on now.
Maree: Thanks, Sophie. Pleasure.
Sophie: Thanks for tuning into today's episode. There's some links to the Hidden Harvest Newsletter and socials if you're interested in anything that was talked about on the show. And if you're around the Illawarra region, I highly recommend attending one of their fantastic events. Or even putting up your hand to volunteer, I can guarantee that you'll have an absolute ball, meet some great people, and even learn some things along the way. We're on Instagram or Twitter if you'd like to get in touch or ask us any questions. And if you do get the chance, please leave us a review to help us spread the word all about public health nutrition.
