Did you know that meat in the supermarket is almost only from female cattle?
Nel Schellekens has her own kitchen at Keunenhuis in Winterswijk. Here she invites people to her table every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. She cooks while generating 0% waste and 100% taste. How? By cooking rooster (male chicken) and bull (male cow) for example. Or the tongue and even the udder of a cow and the balls of a bull. Or goat meat, as we do want their milk but never eat their meat. We often don’t even know it, but the food that is offered to us in our supermarket results in waste as not all that is generated in the food chain is used. Sometimes it is food for animals or it is only used for biomass. Such a waste!
Nel wants to inspire people to look from a different perspective at what we eat. Because at this moment our food chain is far from perfect.
Waste in the food chain
We have hens that are good at laying eggs and hens for the meat. We have cows for milk and for meat. What is left in the process, is waste… Not only what is left of the body of the hen and cow, but also the other gender. As nobody what a farm full of roosters or bulls!
This does not only count for meat. With fish, it is the same thing. Sturgeon is a fish that lays caviar eggs. There is a high demand for these eggs, but not for the sturgeon. The fish itself is a waste.
With fruit and vegetables, it is the same thing again. We are used to eating tropical fruits the whole year round, as well as apples and pears. They are flown in from far away. What is wrong with eating what the season gives us?
Nel lets you taste in her own kitchen how delicious this food waste can be. She even shows you how she makes it! In her vegetable garden, she grows vegetables and spices that originally grew in our own country but are not known as food. A visit is a day full of inspiration to try in your own kitchen.
“I cook the landscape on to the plate”
Nel Schellekens knows she can not solve the problem of the food chain all alone. Therefore, she starts small to make an impact. By showing how it can be done differently. She collaborates with farmers in her region. For a short food chain. When something is wasted for the farmers as they can not sell it, she challenges herself to find a recipe for it. When she has found it, she pays a fair price to the farmer for his previously called ‘waste’. Only then it can be a sustainable long-term solution.
By inviting many people to her kitchen and showing them what she has learned and discovered as more sustainable options, she wants to inspire others to become conscious cooks as well.
How it all started
Nel was born into a family active in the catering industry. In 1620 her ancestors opened a coffee store at Oerle. For centuries, that business was passed from mother to daughter in the family. At some point, it was Nel her turn. She learned to respect food, as well as where it comes from and how to cook it.
Now Nel wants to show that there is no food waste. You can make something delicious of everything.
