This Singaporean culinary school has started an initiative to transform food waste into new edibles

Spent tea leaves have been utilised to make tea cookies. — Photos: AT-SUNRICE GLOBALCHEF ACADEMY

In the beginning of time, humankind was extremely self-sufficient. In fact, until about 12,000 years ago, all of the planet’s population were ‘hunter-gatherers’, because they hunted, foraged and sourced for food themselves, living off the land. Little was wasted because wastage led to the lack of a meal and the need to head out and find something else to satiate hunger.

With evolution – and time – things changed dramatically. The Stone Age hunter-gatherers gave way to the Neolithic era from 10,000 BC onwards. These foundling communities broke away from their original consumption of wild foods and over the next hundreds of years, began the fledgling practices that paved the formation of modern agriculture.