Food waste is a major problem all over the world. Roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted. This is ironic as many people across the world go without food daily. In order to produce food products such as vegetables, meats, and grains, for example, it takes a lot of natural and non-renewable resources which, at times, leaves the environment in a bad condition. Sustainability is a concept that speaks to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the health of the environment, people and economy in the future. Food sustainability is then the way we work with food and the production of food products that do not pose a threat to the environment and so on. We visited a local Berlin restaurant called DingDums Dumplings to find out more about food sustainability and what the owners of this restaurant do to combat food waste.
The concept of the restaurant is very straightforward - they make and serve dumplings filled with food products that would be otherwise thrown away. The food products are still quality controlled - so if you imagined rotten foods, you are wrong. The restaurant owners - Mau, Anna, and Jilianne, source their food products from reliable sources and make sure that they know where the products come from, how and by who it was grown or made. This ensures a circle of sustainability which they aim for. Dumplings, Mau told us, are something quite universal. There are dumplings in almost every food tradition across the world - 'Dombolo' from South Africa, 'Gyoza' from Japan, 'Jiaozi' from China, 'Samosas' from India, 'Ravioli' from Italy - and the list goes on. The idea is that DingDums Dumplings would draw on all these different traditions with the foods available to them and create cuisine that is multicultural and in some cases new. Here are some of the dumplings we were able to taste:
Through visiting DingDums Dumplings we were able to learn about the connection between society, the environment, and the economy as young entrepreneurs. An idea like this restaurant is not only challenging but it is also very inspiring to see how far creativity can get you in creating a business that addresses real issues.