Day 19
Empty Kitchens Full Hearts
Currently housed at the Leith Theatre and formerly located at The Old Dr Bells Baths , Leith’s venues and community have opened their arms to this volunteer initiative which was founded in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts is a volunteer initiative that was founded in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Since then this Leith-based community organisation has provided over 300,000 fresh, healthy meals to people in Edinburgh.
The Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts system is designed to address the dual issues of food poverty and food waste. Food is donated by restaurants, grocery stores, theatres, schools, allotments and more and repurposed into healty meals. To date, over 100 tonnes of food has been rescued and repurposed. This food would otherwise have gone to waste.
“I’m furious that I live in a city where thousands go to bed hungry whilst literal tonnes of food is turned into landfill, as it’s cheaper to throw it away than give it away.”
Every evening grocery stores donate their surplus produce and products. Volunteer packers and chefs sort through it and plan the weekly meals. In the morning, volunteer packers construct Day Packs. A Day Pack contains three easily heatable meals, as well as fruit and a snack. These Day Packs are then delivered across Edinburgh by a team of volunteer cyclists and drivers.
In addition, Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts run two daily hot food services from their home base at the Leith Theatre.
Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts operates 7 days a week from 8AM to 10:30PM, delivering 700 day packs plus serving 100 walk-in guests per day.
“We simply can’t give up on what we’re doing now. The need is too great. This solution is a comparatively simple one: rescuing surplus food and turning it into healthy meals. It must be continued to solve hunger and food waste.”