Rebel Soup enrolls in B.C.'s battle against food waste

B.C. farmers — and the planet Earth — have a big problem: a lot of food is wasted, which is damaging to both the bottom lines of growers and to the environment.

According to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, one-third of the food produced for human consumption ends up being wasted throughout the supply chain.

That food loss wastes the resources used in food production, such as water, land and energy, according to the UN, increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

And while most of the food is wasted in the kitchen, a lot of farmers also struggle to get their produce on store shelves due to superficial blemishes — twists and knots that look ugly and don't appeal to the everyday consumer.

But savvy entrepreneurs across the province have taken advantage of the steady supply of nutritious — though unattractive — food that farmers are eager to sell at a discounted rates.

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Amanda Slater, founder of Rebel Soup, is the latest soldier in the battle for blemished foods..

"There's so much food that doesn't even come to us that we don't even get the chance to buy," she told host Sheryl MacKay on CBC's North by Northwest.

Slater makes use of blemished food by cooking them into vegan soups. So far, she's diverted 600 pounds of produce, and delivers her soup door-to-door.

"I wanted to use soup as an avenue to sort of have an impact on my community, create awareness... and bring people back to their food," said Slater.

'But they're great for soup'

Her products have quirky names — like Beauty and the Beet — playing on the idea that so much food is wasted due to displeasing aesthetics.

The lifelong soup enthusiast regularly visits local farms to scope out her ingredients, and is always taken aback by some of the veggies that are on the chopping block.

"At one farm, there was still broccoli in the field at one farm that I went to — and the heads just weren't tight," she said, adding that they couldn't be sold to supermarkets.

"But they're great for soup."

Slater hopes Rebel Soup will eventually connect consumers back to the farms that produce their food, something she believes people generally don't think about when they make a trip to the grocery store.

"We live in such a fruitful part of the world," she said. "I think its so insane that we import as many vegetables as we do when we have a plethora at our fingertips."

With files from CBC's North by Northwest

To listen to the full interview, click on the audio labelled: Rebel Soup enrolls in B.C.'s battle against food waste