Love Food, Hate Waste pop-up, Parramatta

Miss Piggy and The Boy dinned as guests of Parramatta City Council. Thanks to Parramatta City Council and photographer Alex Wisser for allowing me to feature some of their professional photos on my blog (basically the good ones are by Alex Wisser and the terrible ones are by moi - natch).

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to what I'm pretty sure was Parramatta's very first pop-up dinner as part of Good Food Month. It's great to see more foodie events coming to the neighbourhood.  With this pop-up and Parramatta Lanes both happening during October I have to say...Parramatta was the place to be for me.

The theme of the pop-up dinner was "Love Food, Hate Waste" and the message to not waste food was an important one...one that we heard more about during the night from guest speaker (and flute-playing lady), Jane Rutter.

Whilst The Boy and I don't waste too much food in our household (we prefer to eat it...ALL) we could do things better - like checking the fridge/cupboards for items before we grocery shop to save on doubling up on ingredients. Often I go on memory and my memory ain't that great I have to confess. It was also be helpful to take my weekly menu plan plus shopping list to the supermarket as it may help me stay on track and not buy things I don't need. Of course I'm still trying to figure out how to make a compost bin or worm farm work in our flat so that I can get rid of food scraps that way...one day.

Parramatta's Connection Arcade was transformed in a dreamy dining space by Geraldine Mills - owner of my favourite shop in Parramatta, Prospector Store. Geraldine used upcycled and recycled items to create a space that was both inviting and warm. I was stunned at how great this arcade looked on the night.

Parramatta's very own Leanne Beck, of Sweet Street Bakery fame pulled together what can only be described as an incredible feast. Leanne is well known for her amazing pastry skills, but I had no idea that she is such a great, all round chef.  Leanne prepared a "family style banquet" which saw our waitstaff visiting our tables with trays of tempting dishes.  The menu featured lots of hearty fare, some with a Middle Eastern twist.

 

 

We had wonderful white-sangria ciders to help the food along and I loved that the one of the chieftain's from Batlow Cider was behind the bar. I was told that Batlow Cider is a cooperative between the apple growers of the region...a pretty smart business idea really to keep demand up for their product -- and to stop so many surplus applies going to waste.

To help us keep the memory alive of our great meal each guest was able to take home their dinner plate from the event. The "flatware" was all made by a local clay artist who imprinted herbs + veggies from their garden into the clay. Really lovely stuff!

This was a great event, with a great message. I cannot wait to see what Parramatta pops-ups with at next years Good Food Month.