At the Mercato Metropolitano in London, the largest “disco soup” in the United Kingdom brought together one thousand volunteers who prepared a dinner using surplus vegetables, to the beat of music from the Ministry of Sound.
To mark the first birthday of the Mercato Metropolitano, a food market in London stocking produce from various countries as well as different regions of Italy, volunteers "armed" with knives and peelers gathered to prepare a dinner to the beat of music using ingredients that would otherwise have been thrown away. This was the largest "disco soup" in the United Kingdom — soup being the English word for "zuppa" — part of a global movement born in Berlin that aims to promote concrete action against food waste.
Mercato Metropolitano is located in Elephant & Castle, a neighbourhood in south London that is undergoing a major regeneration process. The celebrations for its first birthday began on 15 September, kicking off a weekend under the banner of sustainability, starting with the disco soup. The event brought together more than one thousand people — volunteers and customers alike — who, under the direction of professional chefs, got to work chopping leftover, unused vegetables that would normally have gone to waste, dancing to the music played by DJs from the Ministry of Sound, the legendary club and the market's "next-door neighbour".
Volunteers collected food and ingredients from markets, bakeries, restaurants and farms across the city and surrounding counties. Among the various dishes prepared from surplus produce was an enormous tomato and pepper soup. There was also a Smoothie bike — a bicycle that used the kinetic energy generated by pedalling to make smoothies, again using ingredients that would otherwise have been thrown away.
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The idea of disco soup was born five years ago in Berlin as a "protest meal" against food waste, and since then it has managed to serve as many as 8,000 meals, becoming an international phenomenon that has spread to the United States, Japan and South America. The first World Disco Soup Day took place on 29 April this year, born out of an initiative by the Slow Food Youth Network, the youth network associated with Slow Food, which met in 2016 at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin together with students, activists and food industry professionals.
While a large proportion of the world's population suffers from hunger, one third of the food intended for human consumption is thrown away every year. According to data from the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1.3 billion tonnes of food are destined for the bin, and the rate at which we currently produce food globally will only be sufficient to meet population growth until 2050. These alarming figures did not leave the founders of disco soup unmoved, and they decided to create an initiative that is both useful and fun at the same time.
The weekend during which disco soup took place at Mercato Metropolitano was packed with other events aimed at spreading awareness of sustainability-related issues, such as workshops on composting, growing a vegetable garden, and making the most of every part of the ingredients used in the kitchen, thanks to a session entitled "Save our roots".
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"Disco soup is a global movement that celebrates delicious solutions to fighting food waste," said Andrea Rasca, the founder of the market. "It's fun and at the same time carries a serious message." The aim of these two days of events was to explore the way we think about issues such as the environment, sustainability, food waste and social inclusion, set against the backdrop of London. Online and on social media, however, various disco soup events can be found in different countries, including France and Germany — all sharing the common goal of fighting food waste while moving to the beat of music.