Words by Smiley Team
If you carved a pumpkin into a jack o’ lantern this Halloween, environmental charity Hubbub has a message for you - “pumpkins are food, not just a decoration”.
Now the spooky season is over, the organisation urges households to eat their pumpkins, helping to tackle the 14.5 million expected to go to waste this year – enough to make a bowl of pumpkin soup for the entire population of the UK.
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Aoife Allen, Director at Hubbub, said: “Pumpkins are a lovely seasonal food that grows locally, and they're a cheap and healthy way to feed a crowd. Around 6.6million tonnes of food is thrown out of UK households each year, and reducing food waste is one of the most impactful actions we can take to help tackle climate change.”
In more positive news, research by the charity found that more people are starting to eat their pumpkins compared to previous years. The survey of 2,000 UK residents by Censuswide found that over half of pumpkins bought for carving were eaten after Halloween in 2020. This is almost double the proportion of pumpkins eaten in 2015.
“It's fantastic to see that more and more households are eating their pumpkin at Halloween,” added Aoife. “However, as Halloween continues to grow in popularity, we estimate almost the same number of pumpkins will go to waste as six years ago, so it’s as important as ever that people are inspired to cook up their carvings.”
With more people celebrating Halloween than ever before, the number of pumpkins going to waste is still one of the scariest things about the celebration.
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To tackle this, their annual campaign to rescue pumpkins offers a variety of tasty recipe ideas that will mean pumpkins end up in bellies not bins. From classic soups to more exotic dishes, there’s plenty of ways to turn a food waste horror into a sustainable treat.
But there’s still more you can do. Once you’ve satisfied your appetite, the charity reminds pumpkin fans that the inedible parts can be chopped up and fed to birds or composted.
Discover their recipe suggestions here. For more information on tackling food waste visit hubbub.co.uk.
