Discosoup

This past Saturday, C & I participated in an event at our local market called Discosoup. It was co-sponsored by the Discosoup Movement and Les Rencontres Cuisine et Santé.  The goal of the event was twofold - to raise awareness of food waste and to show how fruits and veggies that would normally be thrown out can be turned into appetizing and healthy meals.

Prior to our arrival, they had gone around to several market stands to collect the fruits and veggies that would be thrown out. They ended up with quite the selection - eggplant, zucchini, carrots, onions, bananas, strawberries, kiwis, apricots, apples and loads and loads of peaches.

The chef gave each one of us a knife and then we started sorting through all of the boxes of food, first cutting out the bad parts, then washing, then cutting into pieces and peeling. 

They also had a live band (of anglophones!) playing 50's music to accompany us while we chopped and peeled. 

 

Then it was time to start cooking, mixing and assembling.There were several different tables going at once:

And what kind of meal would it be without some wine? :)

Once it was done, everyone was handed a bowl and a spoon and invited to dig in. The various tables had prepared a vegetable soup, an asparagus soup, an eggplant dip, a spicy salsa, and several different fruit smoothies (apple-kiwi, banana-strawberry, pear, peach-apricot, etc).

A torrential rain started pouring down right at that point - which was right when those poor kids were struck by lightning in the park - so everyone started packing up and leaving.  They had suggested in the welcome email to bring tupperware, and no one else had really brought any, so C and I loaded up ours with the leftovers and it made for a lovely "recycled" dinner that evening.

This event was a great time, and I would definitely participate again.  The chef was so inviting and friendly, and you could definitely tell he had experience in juggling a lot of pots at the same time. It was pretty inspiring to see how he could take a quick look at the available ingredients and then spout off several recipes to prepare.  The other participants were also much more open than I was expecting from French people, given that most people had come in groups of 2-3 and I was expecting them to stick together and not mingle.

I'd definitely recommend checking out their website - I believe their next Discosoup is in a few weeks in Vincennes, but both organizations have other events scheduled elsewhere all over Ile de France.