Cherish the delicious leftovers from the earth. Dessert awakens people's perception of food: ecological kitchen

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The flourishing development of modern food industry and chain food industry, coupled with the change of modern people's eating habits, has led to many social problems related to diet,"waste of leftover food" is one of them. Day after day, from the origin of food to the market, to the restaurant, and even to the table of every family, in each food journey, people unconsciously produce a large amount of food, food waste, long-term accumulation of more environmental burden, and Taiwan's prosperous food culture, but also people's diet life and food, the relationship between the land has broken, for daily food waste feel numb.

Huang Yin-hsuan, founder of the Eco-Kitchen, hopes to use leftover desserts to reconnect people with their natural environment.

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Recalling the initial experience of deep connection with cooking, it began with a process of searching for "good taste" after going to college. Huang Yinxuan had a keen taste for good food since childhood and a stomach that was "spoiled" by his family. In order to pursue the good taste in his mind, Huang Yinxuan began to cook personally. In the process of purchasing and cooking ingredients, he knew the food he ate step by step. Because he studied entomology, he naturally connected his diet life with the ecological environment. Understand that behind every ingredient, there is a deep connection with humans and the land.

Huang Yinxuan's experience of changing houses on the farm inspired him to pay attention to sustainable eating. (Photo/Provided by Huang Yinxuan)

After graduating from the Institute of Marine Biology, he planned to study for a doctoral degree in oceanography abroad, but in a coffee shop work experience, he accidentally discovered his passion and ideal for baking and cooking, and resolutely transferred to Italy's Slow Food University (UNISG) to study food related knowledge. Slow Food University is a university that studies food and the art of slow food. It explores the balance between humanities and sciences in the food world. In this place where diverse food cultures gather and exchange globally, Huang Yinxuan sees many innovative food industry models with friendly environments. In his experience of changing rooms at a local farm, he realizes that farm owners use leftovers to make daily meals. He inspires concern for sustainable eating and decides to start with his passion for cooking. Internships at Dutch leftover restaurant Instock (Note 1) and UK zero-energy waste restaurant Silo (Note 2), exploring the possibilities of sustainable eating at the industry's first site.

Note 1: Dutch Instock Leftovers Restaurant, in collaboration with Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn, uses supermarket leftovers to make dishes. It started with a business competition proposal by four internal employees and has grown from the initial pop-up store plan to 3 stores. Note 2: Silo Green Concept Restaurant in the UK achieves zero energy waste through unpackaged delivery of ingredients, recycling of resources, zero waste output, and even insisting on chocolate delivered by zero-carbon sailboats.

left| Internship at Instock Leftovers Restaurant in Holland. right| Internship at Silo Green Concept Restaurant, UK. (Photo/provided by Huang Yinxuan) No matter how expensive or cheap the product is, treat each ingredient with creativity and heart

Huang Yinxuan thought he was not the type of entrepreneur. After returning to China, Huang Yinxuan briefly returned to the catering industry to do food research and development. In the process, he met many partners and food producers in the catering industry. In addition to the deeper connection between meals and land, he often had the opportunity to obtain extra ingredients for the development of leftover meals. Under the invitation of friends, he successively participated in markets and catering activities with leftover desserts, and gradually established the brand of "ecological kitchen" and continued to this day. The ecological kitchen mainly uses the extra products that may be wasted in fair trade and friendly environment as ingredients, including ugly fruits and vegetables, immediate products, NG products with packaging defects, and even leftover ingredients from the food processing process. All of them can be transformed into delicious meals through Huang Yinxuan's skillful hands. These fruits and vegetables called "leftover food" and "extra products" mainly refer to safe and good ingredients that are eliminated by shops and passages due to aesthetic requirements. Both in nutrition and flavor are the same as ordinary fresh ingredients, but can not be effectively used, is also one of the main reasons for today's food waste problem.

All types of extra ingredients

Huang Yinxuan believes that treating each ingredient well, cooking well, and letting consumers feel the heart are important keys to promoting leftover food. Choosing to present in the form of dessert, in addition to the relatively easy preservation of the finished product, Huang Yinxuan also hopes to use creativity to expand the public's imagination of leftover food. Although the actual consumption of ingredients is very limited with the existing brand scale, the transmission of sustainable eating concept through cooking is the most important core spirit of ecological kitchen. From the selection of ingredients, the selection of packaging materials and the promotion of friendly lifestyle, it is the brand practice and the ideal way to transmit sustainability. Reuse of leftovers is just one of the important and urgent issues that echo sustainable eating today.