Hundreds of volunteers gather to prepare soup and dance as part of global movement to inspire action against food waste

Visitors to a community food market and bar in south London on Friday were presented with an unusual combination of pleasures: a soup disco.

Volunteers and customers at Mercato Metropolitano in Elephant and Castle gathered to chop vegetables and tear basil leaves while professional chefs directed them and DJs from the nightclub Ministry of Sound spun records in the background.

The event was part of a new global movement called “disco soup”, which aims to inspire action against food waste. Each disco soup event sees hundreds of kilos of unused vegetables taken from markets, bakeries, farms and restaurants to be recycled. The produce is then turned into a huge soup free of charge for all of the attending customers at a disco, with any surplus soup going to charities.



More than 1,000 people were expected to take part in Friday’s event in London, organised by Feedback and thought to be the UK’s largest ever disco soup, as the events are named. It took about 100 volunteers more than a month to put everything together. Cooking was overseen by British chef Samuel Hodges and was scheduled to go on until 11pm.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A volunteer stirs soup. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

The market was spread into a number of areas, including “feast preparation and chopping”, a crafts centre and a “feast kitchen”. The vegetables were boiled in a number of soup pans, each up to 250 litres, and stirred with a giant wooden spoon.

The disco soup concept started five years ago in Berlin as a “protest soup” against food waste, and fed 8,000 people. It has since become an international phenomenon.

Andrea Rasca, the founder of Mercato, said: “Disco soup is a global movement that celebrates delicious solutions to food waste. It’s fun with a serious message.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A food rescue warehouse where supermarkets, shops and retailers donate food past its sell-by date. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

“We will be collecting surplus food from companies and farms both in London and within surrounding counties which would otherwise be wasted, and creating a delicious meal which is free for all, to demonstrate that surplus food can be turned into something wonderful.

“It’s fortunate that our next-door neighbours happen to be Ministry of Sound, and when we told them about the concept, they were delighted to offer their DJs to come and spin some tunes, so everyone can bop while they chop.”

About a third of food produced every year – equal to approximately 1.3bn tonnes – is never eaten because it is spoiled after harvest and during transportation, or thrown away by shops and consumers.

Saving 25% of it would be enough to feed the more than 800 million people who go to bed hungry every night, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Campaigners say reducing food waste would also help to fight climate change as discarded food ends up in landfill where it rots, releasing harmful greenhouse gases, while the water, energy and fuel needed to grow, store and transport it is wasted.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sam Hodges, founder of The Brick Kitchen and co-organiser of the event. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Pascale Robinson, the event coordinator at Feedback, said: “The ethos of disco soup is that through chopping, cooking together, you can show how important and easy it is to tackle food waste. Tristram Stuart, the founder of Feedback, once said that in order to save the planet you have to throw a better party than the people who are ruining it.

“So the aim of today is to show all of the creative ways that we can tackle food waste. That’s through a delicious shared meal but also through workshops, drop-in sessions, a panel discussion, a kids parade, a pop quiz, and having a dance at the end as well.”

Hodges said the event was about sustainability and familiarising people with the materials. Hodges runs a research project and restaurant called The Brick Kitchen, where a group of independent chefs work together to circulate knowledge about food through the public. “If people are more engaged it makes the food more real, it attaches the mind to it.

“If I told you the nettles in your garden were anti-inflammatories and a lot of disorders are considered inflammations and your nettles would help, you would suddenly place value on them. I had no love for nettles two years ago and now one of my kitchens makes nettle broth. The whole idea is about inspiring people.”

Sarah Hicks, 25, was one of the volunteers at the event. She said: “Recently I’ve been reading a lot of books about the environment and I’ve become vegan because of all the research I’ve been doing. I thought I have to get involved in food waste. I hope today will spread the word, and I wanted to learn as well. I didn’t know you could go to farms and pick food that would go to waste, for example. It’s becoming cool now, all my friends are keen to do this sort of thing.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kenya is a volunteer from Lambeth. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

John and Linda Corbett, 64 and 62 respectively, were walking past on Friday afternoon when they happened upon the disco soup event. “I think it’s very worthwhile, there’s a lot of food wasted and this just highlights that,” said John.

“They wouldn’t do anything with this food, there’s people on the streets, in shelters, who could use it,” Linda added. “Why does it have to be thrown away when there’s nothing wrong with it? When we were kids, our parents took us to markets where they bought waste like broken biscuits from companies and sold them. You don’t get that any more.”

In April of this year, tens of thousands of people across five continents feasted on food saved from the bin at a number of parties as part of World Disco Soup Day.