Smashing pumpkins

 

Yesterday, we celebrated Halloween – which is now Britain’s third biggest commercial holiday after Christmas and Easter, and the country’s second biggest party night after New Year’s Eve.

However, with new findings from Hubbub and Unilever revealing that while two in five British households now carve pumpkins for Halloween, with most of those going for at least two pumpkins, seven out of ten carved pumpkins don’t get eaten; the duo says a total of 15 million pumpkins were carved but uneaten last year, which is enough to make a bowl of pumpkin soup for everyone in Britain.

The survey – part of Hubbub and Unilever’s Joint Ambition for a Zero Food Waste Britain, to tackle the seven million tonnes of food and drink wasted in UK homes each year – also found that more than half of those questioned admitted that they don’t think of a Halloween pumpkin as food. Half said they had never eaten pumpkin before and six in 10 said they wouldn’t know how to cook pumpkin, despite two thirds claiming they are confident they could make a soup from scratch.

But there is hope for the shocking number of edible pumpkins set to go to waste over the next few days; most (73%) of those who had tried pumpkin said they liked it, with pumpkin soup coming out as Britain’s favourite pumpkin dish.

Trewin Restorick, founder and CEO of Hubbub, says, “As Halloween continues to grow in popularity in the UK, it’s really important that this doesn’t create an ever larger mountain of food waste.

“We must recognise that pumpkins are a valuable source of food and not just for decoration, if we are to tackle the seven million tonnes of food and drink wasted from British homes each year.

“Halloween is a great opportunity to help our children understand where food comes from and involve them in cooking a simple meal with their pumpkin carvings.”

Spread the word and get those carved pumpkins turned into soup before they’re tossed.

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