WARNING: This article is full of awful cheese puns…Brie careful!
What’s Going On Here?
London’s Borough Market have released new research that suggests 2.2 million kilos of cheese will end up in the bin this Christmas. This comes as more of us than ever will ‘Brie’ in search of an elaborate Christmas cheese board to round off the day’s annual family eating contest.
Give me da stats!
The London based food market suggests that the average cheese platter will consist of five varieties of cheese and that 60% of us will be throwing much of the gold stuff away this festive period.
‘Halloumi?’ we hear you ask. Yes you, in fact here at curious.earth, we ‘Camembert’ the facts either.
33% of respondents said there was always an entire cheese left over that no one likes, while 25% complained that everyone was as full as an egg by the time it got to the cheese course. 18% of people confessed to not knowing what to do with leftovers.
As a result, cheese specialists are urging us to have a zero-waste cheeseboard.
“If you buy cheese that tastes amazing you’re far less likely to waste it,” said Dominic Coyte of Borough Cheese Company. “
Why Should We Care?
Limiting or even avoiding dairy products is one of the biggest ways to reduce your environmental impact this Christmas. Unfortunately, it isn’t just cheese that is likely to hit the landfill this festive season. A typical Christmas dinner can produce a dizzying amount of harmful emissions, and we’re not just talking about the side effects of Brussels sprouts.
A study from Unilever suggests that last year, 4.2 million Christmas dinners were wasted across the United Kingdom. That’s equivalent to 263,000 turkeys; 7.5 million mince pies; 740,000 slices of Christmas pudding; 17.2 million Brussels sprouts; 11.9 million carrots and 11.3 million roast potatoes.
So this year, by all means enjoy your spread but why not break the tradition of eating until you explode and do the planet a favour by scaling back this Christmas.
Be Curious!
Here are top 5 tips for cutting down on the cheese waste this Christmas!
1) Leave the cheese alone. If you are looking for an alternative, why not try olives, nuts or a seasonal fruit salad? In fact, do you really need that fourth course?
2) Buy smaller and individual cheeses rather than a pre-packaged selection.
3) Buy the tastiest of cheese! This will go a long way to making sure there are no left overs.
4) Store it ‘Caerphilly’ – keep your cheese in a dry, cool place, and they should be fine. Remember to keep it air tight!
5) If you do have left overs, why not grate and freeze it for your cheese on toast.
