Sources of Surplus - Part 2

Alexsandra is one of our newest members of the Monday TRJFP team at ETNA

Diane joined TRJFP in the summer of 2025 after moving to London from the north of England. Not knowing anyone locally, volunteering was a great way to meet people.

Have you ever wondered where all our delicious surplus food comes from?

Cristina joined TRJFP in 2022, shortly after moving to the area and keen to find a meaningful way to get involved locally.

Joanna has been a key part of the TRJFP Ham team for over a year, alternating weeks in the kitchen with another chef to keep the delicious meals flowing.

So, not only are avocados delicious and good for you, but you can even use the stones and skins to dye clothes! I was introduced to this a few years ago by our nanny when I asked her why she was there was a growing pile of avocado stones in our freezer and she told me about the next creative project she had lined up for the kids

This quarter, we’re turning up the heat and shining the spotlight on one of our culinary stars at TRJFP: the ever-inspiring Kenza.

Our kitchen hero for this newsletter is Ros Benstead, a Monday volunteer at our ETNA cafe. Ros is a longstanding member of the TRJFP team, joining back when the ETNA venture had only just started

At TRJFP, we’re all about saving as much food from bins as we can, but some waste is inevitable – I’m yet to find a way to grind avocado stones into a tasty snack for example! The good news is we can still lower the environmental impact of unavoidable waste by using food recycling caddies rather than rubbish bins.

After volunteering at a food bank in Paddington during Covid, former IT consultant Dave was keen to find an organisation focused on minimising food waste and fostering community spirit closer to home, which led him to join TRJFP in September 2022.

Our kitchens produce a lot of veg peelings, used coffee grounds and eggshells, and we usually find a few pieces of mouldy fruit and veg among the donations! Although we can’t eat this product, it doesn’t end up in landfill. We turn it into something much more valuable - compost!