Green Pepper Award
The initiator, Alice Meins, received the award from the mayor of Groningen and says that she just opened the restaurant three months ago and is very happy with the support from the municipality. “People don’t take zucchinis or apples with a dirty spot”, says Penda Diawara, one of the cooks. “But we make delicious food with it. People can choose between two main courses, of which one is vegetarian, soup and a nice dessert. It’s going very well, although we can’t offer a lot of choice for the customers as we are depending on the food that is being brought to our restaurant.”
Alice Meins dreams of expanding the company and gathering food from more supermarkets that are willing to co-operate. She already purchased an electric car to pick up food and aims to contribute to diminishing food waste. ”A lot of people are really happy with what we are doing. A lot of the food is still going to the farms, so they can use it as feed for the animals, but a lot of it is wasted as well. That is why this initiative is important.”
The municipality of Groningen handed out the Green Pepper Award together with a prize of €1000,- and guidance for the project in the coming year. The award will be handed out anually to a innovative food project which can be linked to the development of a stronger regional food network. The city is researching the set up of such a regional food network together with other cities in Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Sweden, and the project is called Reframe.