Food Not Bombs: Anti-waste activists serve up vegan meals for Auckland's hungry

Madeleine Lifsey, a mamber of Auckland group Food Not Bombs, shares dishes with local food banks. Photo / Michael Craig

During a recent scouting mission for new Auckland group Food Not Bombs, Madeleine Lifsey came across quite a find: a 40kg bonanza of oat pulp.

Natural Abundance, a company known for its artisan crackers sold in health food sections of grocery stores, would usually throw out the byproduct even though it's a common ingredient in other dishes not included in its production line.

The result has been weeks of deliveries of vegan breakfast bars to foodbanks.

"It's just wild to think there's so much perfectly good food that's going to waste," Lifsey marvelled.

Natural Abundance, which has since offered to give the group up to 40kg of oat pulp a week, is among the many businesses won over by Lifsey and her fellow volunteers since the food-activist collective started in late September.

"The reception has just been so positive," Lifsey said. "It's been heartening to see how many people want to get involved."

While Food Not Bombs is new to Auckland, more than 1000 chapters have been registered around the world over the past four decades - spanning 65 countries across six continents.

The broad idea behind the non-hierarchical collectives - which each form their own rules - is non-violent direct action to protest against poverty, environmental degradation, food waste and war.

Most often, that action equates to collecting excess food to provide meals for the homeless or anyone else in need, including those who have suffered through natural disasters and those participating in protests that reflect the groups' liberal values.

The meals are always vegetarian or vegan - partly due to the groups' environmental ethics but also for food safety reasons, due to meat's shorter shelflife - but there's no requirement for volunteers or recipients to be.

The founding chapter served its first meal at an anti-nuclear protest in the US city of Boston in 1981. And so it made sense to Lifsey that a chapter would be a good fit for Auckland, which has its own rich history of anti-nuclear sentiment and distaste for food waste.

Some 79 per cent of New Zealanders say they care about reducing food waste. According to the Rabobank/KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey conducted last April we're wasting less than in 2019.

But despite the good intentions, it's estimated that Kiwi households throw out about $2.4 billion worth of food each year - the vast bulk of it fruit and veg.

With each Food Not Bombs chapter unique, some groups in the United States have courted controversy, with dumpster-diving - grabbing waste from bins outside food businesses - one of the main criticisms.

New Auckland group Food Not Bombs collects food about to expire that businesses might otherwise throw out and prepares meals for food banks. Photo / Dean Purcell

"In some cities, the groceries and bakeries are not willing to help and we may seek some of our food from dumpsters, but this is not generally the case," the international Food Not Bombs website states.

The Auckland group discussed the matter when they formed and quickly voted to ban the practice. Not knowing why the food was thrown out is a safety issue, but it's also completely unnecessary when so many businesses share the group's waste-not ethos and are willing to donate.

Roughly 40 volunteers joined Food Not Bombs Tāmaki Makaurau in its first month of operation. About 10 cook meals at their homes on weekends, while some volunteer to drive the meals to foodbanks and some collect washed takeaway containers used to store the donated dishes.

Others call up businesses like grocers and restaurants to see if they have excess vegetables and other ingredients that are perhaps too far past their prime to sell, but still perfectly edible if cooked quickly and then frozen.

"We'd still want to serve something that we'd eat personally," explained volunteer cook Molly Kelsey, who also collects food - she's given her mobile number to all the vege shops in her neighbourhood.

She's been surprised by how many businesses have stepped up - particularly smaller local companies - when told their excess food could be put to good use.

In their first month, the Auckland chapter donated about 900 meals and desserts - including plenty of curries, pastas and dishes incorporating ingredients from the four peanut butter companies that have donated.

It's been a great start as foodbanks saw demand grow through Auckland's strict Covid-19 lockdown. But the group has bigger ambitions, including community cooking days and events where hot meals can be served directly to those living rough.

In a strange way, the lockdown made starting the group easier than expected.

"It has been a kind of silver lining," Kelsey said, explaining that many volunteers had more time on their hands than usual as the group found their footing.

Food Not Bombs volunteer Molly Kelsey prepares dishes from her home in Pakuranga to share with food banks. Photo / Dean Purcell

While the food has helped strangers, the process of providing it has also benefited the volunteers. The camaraderie of sharing a worthy cause with others - even if interacting remotely - was a way of maintaining faith in humanity during the darkest days of lockdown.

"It's nice to have something good happening," Kelsey said. "It's just really good for the soul.

"Everyone I have spoken to about it has been amazed. We're just here to make things easier - all the while reducing food waste."

• Anyone interested in receiving a meal or volunteering can contact the group through its Facebook page.