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A sustainable, historical three-course feast: budget broccoli soup

Published: March 21, 2024 at 3:23 PM

Serves 4 - 7

Difficulty 2/10

Prep: 30 mins

In this three-part series, Eleanor Barnett shows how leftovers can be used to make a starter, main course and dessert inspired by different periods in British history. First up, budget broccoli soup...

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After years of shortages and hardship in the previous century, 21st-century Britons were fast to fall for the culinary excess and wasteful consumption habits of the modern era. In fact, pre-war levels of food waste had doubled by the 1970s. But crisis hit again in 2007 when the global cost of food increased by an astonishing 75 per cent from a 2005 baseline. In this context, wasting perfectly edible food seemed criminal, and prompted the UK’s Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to launch the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, aimed at educating people in how to be more sustainable at home.

This starter – budget broccoli soup – is inspired by one of the campaign’s early recipes, and utilises broccoli stalks left over from other dishes. The fluffy florets are a regular feature in our kitchens, but the thick stems often needlessly end up in the bin. It’s a shame, as they impart a lovely woody flavour that’s worth adding to your culinary repertoire.

Today, our supermarket shelves heave with packaged abundance, while our favourite meals can be delivered ready-to-eat to our doors in just a few clicks. Reimagining leftovers as new recipes and returning to the thrifty habits of our ancestors not only reminds us of the true value of good food, but serves as a fun and creative way of connecting to our past while protecting our future.

More in this series

• Victorian beef fritters
• WW2 crumb fudge

Ingredients

Broccoli soup

• 3 potatoes

• 1 onion

• carrot

• 50g lentils

• 2 broccoli stalks

• A swirl of crème fraîche

• A few tarragon or basil leaves

  optional

• Salt and pepper

  to taste

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Method

• step 1

  Chop the potatoes, onion and carrots and slice the broccoli stalks into small discs (discarding only the very ends and leaves).

• step 2

  Boil on the hob with the lentils for 15 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender.

• step 3

  Blend the vegetables together, adding water depending on the consistency you would like the soup to be.

• step 4

  Add salt and pepper to taste.

• step 5

  Finish by adding a swirl of crème fraiche and herb leaves to serve.

Eleanor Barnett is a food historian at Cardiff University and @Historyeats on Instagram. Her new book, Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation (Apollo) is out now

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