Aug 4, 2018
Turning unwanted coconuts into 2000 curries, 10 tonnes of
donated squash into soup, leftover egg yolks from 16,000 Black Star
Pastry watermelon-strawberry cakes into banana curd and working out
what to do with 800 kilograms of airplane food picked up from the
domestic airport gate – these are just some of the things that
Travis Harvey handles as executive chef of a food-rescue
charity.
Working at OzHarvest means he's had to be pretty creative: for
instance, he takes the most wasted ingredient in Australia – bread
– and transforms it into dishes like fried Lazarus bread or ramen
noodles at OzHarvest's pop-up cafe at Gratia in Surry Hills. He's
also encountered other inventive ways of saving waste, like Josh
Niland's attempt to incorporate cobia fat and fish scales into a
chocolate bar dessert. Harvey has also collaborated with
high-profile talent, like Massimo Bottura and even Cookie Monster.
Through initiatives like the CEO Cook-off and OzHarvest food truck,
he's helped the charity send 90 million meals to people in need
over its 14-year history.
Prior to his time at OzHarvest, he contributed to a stove-building project in Guatemala and endured Canberra restaurants that felt like episodes of Survivor. He even worked in kitchens that practise the very opposite of what he does today: extracting collagen from chicken wings, only to throw the wings out afterwards.
It was fascinating chatting to Travis – and make sure you check
out his work at the OzHarvest Cafe pop-up, which is
running at Gratia in Surry Hills until September.