WOULD YOU TRY IT? HILTON LAUNCHES A £40 'TASTE OF ZERO WASTE' MENU

It's not just small independent restaurants that are trying to boost their eco-credentials.

International hospitality giant Hilton has launched a 'zero waste menu' at four of its flagship UK hotels as part of a trial. 

The £40 menu showcases 'innovative techniques' to combat food waste and underused cuts of meat that would usually be thrown away. 

Unusual delicacies include ox heart, salmon cheeks, cod tongues, potato skin chips and treacle tart made out of leftover sourdough. 

Hilton says it has a long-term ambition to reduce food that it sends to landfill, although the zero waste menu is only available for a month. 

What's on the menu? 

  • Potato peel chips 
  • Poached Scottish salmon cheeks with seaweed stock, asparagus stalks and tomato
  • Crisp fried cod tongues with sauce gribiche and nettle leaf tomato salad
  • Charcoal grilled ox heart with potato skin risotto and pickled magnolia petals
  • Chicken mince on toast with toasted sourdough, grilled chicken heart, soft herb pesto and seeds 
  • Vegetable korma, root and spring vegetable, sticky rice biscuit, tomato, coriander stalks 
  • Bread and butter pudding, blueberry and fudge, caramel sauce 
  • Treacle tart with sourdough ice cream and clotted cream 

Note: Dishes vary by restaurant  

Zero waste menus are launching at four Hilton hotels – London Hilton on Park Lane, Hilton Manchester Deansgate, Hilton London Metropole and DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole. 

'As chefs, we are the catalysts for positive change and have the opportunity to set the bar for sustainable dining,' said Paul Bates, executive head chef at Hilton London Metropole. 

'Our menu inspires diners to embrace new flavours, while empowering them to lead the charge when it comes to tackling food waste. 

'We look forward to guests joining us on this culinary adventure and helping us make a meaningful difference, one delicious dish at a time.' 

Although the menus will vary by restaurant, all four Hiltons will employ what's known as 'root-to-shoot' and 'nose-to-tail' cookery. 

This is where every edible part of an animal or vegetable is used, rather than being thrown away, as commonly seen in the restaurant industry. 

Chefs will even be using vegetable trimmings and peelings to make sauces and stocks, as well as bruised or overripe fruits in desserts and cocktails. 

Surplus fruit and vegetable bits that would otherwise be 'destined for the bin' will instead be pickled and served on plates as a garnish. 

READ MORE: I ate at the world's first zero-waste restaurant - and it doesn't have a BIN

 

The kitchens will also be turning untouched food from the breakfast buffets, such as pastries, bread, fruit and coffee beans, into 'mouthwatering puddings'.

For example, at the Manchester Hilton, chefs have made a treacle tart with sourdough from the evening bread service. 

Only four of the more than 50 Hilton hotels in the UK are getting the zero waste menu, from now until the end of May. 

However, 18 more UK Hiltons are getting a new 'low waste menu', which uses techniques to reduce rather than eliminate waste. 

The hotel giant also plans to roll out the initiative across more hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa over the coming year – although it's not clear whether this will also be in the form of a month-long trial. 

Avoiding food waste is crucial in the fight against climate change because when food waste rots, it releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. 

Hilton hopes the initiative will show other hotel operators that they can 'join the global fight to reduce food waste' and harness techniques 'that can be implemented in kitchens of any size'.

'The launch of these new menus marks another step in the global fight against food waste,' said Emma Banks, vice president for food and beverage strategy at Hilton. 

'These dishes have been designed to demonstrate the best-in-class techniques in use across our hotels all over the world every day.'

It's possible Hilton has taken inspiration from what describes itself as the world's first zero waste restaurant – Silo in east London.

The trendy venue offers a £75 per person tasting menu featuring the likes of on-site milled bread, wild rabbit dumplings, maitake mushroom and sourdough ice cream sandwich. 

Silo also doesn't have a bin in its kitchen and chefs use any scraps to make new dishes rather than sending them to landfill. 

According to UNEP's Food Waste Index Report 2024, 1 billion tonnes of food is wasted each year, equating to one fifth of all food available to consumers, and the food services industry contributes over a quarter of this waste.

In total, an estimated 8 to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food that is not consumed. 

We have the luxury of choice, but do we have the luxury of security? Expert warns of a looming food crisis that could leave millions of people starving 

Because of high natural gas prices rising food prices could make the difference between life or death for millions of people around the world, according to one expert. 

Maximo Torero Cullen is the chief economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 

He thinks climate change, economic downturns and the war in Ukraine are all factors causing supply difficulties and driving up prices of food, fuel and fertilizers. 

'I think we have a very serious food access problem,' he told the International Monetary Fund. 

'If things get worse, and we have a food access and a food availability problem, then we will be in a very bad situation. 

'The impact on food-importing countries is twofold - they face a steeper food import bill and a higher cost of fertilizers.'  

Organizations such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are closely tracking the effects of price hikes on global food security. 

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2024-04-25T09:24:50Z dg43tfdfdgfd