A pleasant display of savoury and sweet dishes made from leftovers or foods which were past their prime or close to their use-by date graced the table during Food Rescue, at the recent Discover University Open Week.

Food rescue was organised in relation to the European Week for Waste Reduction by the Nutrition, Family and Consumer Studies student-teachers from the University of Malta’s Faculty of Education and Home Economists in Action.

From simple home-made baked chicken nuggets, to the richer Soppa tal-Armla (Widow’s Soup) or Pudina tal-Ħobż with a modern twist, the idea was to show how easy it was to prepare healthy and tasty foods with leftover, over-ripe or stale foods at hand.

Another section was dedicated to demonstrating the making of fruit and ‘green’ smoothies. The green smoothie, made from lettuce, spinach, kale, herbs, fruit juices, ginger and ice was quite a hit with the young and old, and local and overseas visitors.

A leaflet on food rescue tips and a food rescue recipe booklet of the displayed and demonstrated recipes were also distributed.

The university said this morning that a 40 per cent of food waste in developed countries occurred at the retail or consumer levels.

Similar stands were also set up at the Farmers Markets in Vittoriosa and Ta Qali.

The food rescue recipes have also been produced as a set of 10 videos as a collaborative three-generation initiative of NFCS/Home Economics lecturers, graduates and student-teachers.