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On this episode, Ragnar speaks with Elizabeth Yorke, a chef turned food researcher and advocate for sustainable food systems. Elizabeth shares her journey from culinary school to food advocacy, focusing on innovative and circular food economies. Discover how Elizabeth is transforming India’s food system through initiatives like upcycling brewers spent grain into nutritious products and fostering a collaborative environment for food innovation. Hear more on Episode 110: From Chef to Food Advocate – Building a Better Food System with Elizabeth Yorke.
Elizabeth is the co-founder of Edible Issues, a collective fostering conversations on Indian food systems, and the founder of Saving Grains, an upcycling food initiative. Through her work, she explores the intersections of culinary arts, sustainability, and circular economies.
Tune in and LEARN:
- Elizabeth’s journey for a more conscious kitchen: Hear how her love for food led her from culinary school to becoming a food researcher and advocate for sustainable food systems.
- The visionary creation of Edible Issues: Explore how Edible Issues fosters essential conversations and innovations to help tackle key issues in Indian food systems, and how this local impact has global potential.
- Innovative upcycling with Saving Grains: Learn about Saving Grains’ transformation of brewers’ spent grain into nutritious and delicious food products, providing a model for reducing food waste.
- Collaborative approaches to sustainability: Understand the power of collaboration in driving sustainable practices in the culinary world.
Resources
I like a future which is full of collaborations and agility. What we know of food and land, soil, air – it’s not standardized. Our systems also have to cope and that’s why I love the kitchen space. It’s built on agility. It’s built on collaborations. Building more of those spaces is really powerful. How can chefs and food professionals get involved? Be open to experimentation.
Elizabeth Yorke
Find the latest updates on Edible Issues and Saving Grains on Instagram: @edible.issues & @savinggrains.
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About Elizabeth Yorke
Many chefs are practicing sustainability without realizing it. Like me – I realized I was working with ingredients, trying to use the whole ingredient before I knew what sustainability was in a restaurant context.
Tackling the food waste issue, looking at upcycling, looking at innovation, at culinary creativity – that definition has extended to food service and food care. How are we feeding people? What kind of food are we putting out there for them to consume? How are we looking at agricultural ecologies or the spaces of those who grow our food? How are we using food as a tool for resistance and for talk and for change? Those are what I think sustainable food practices are.
[Sustainability] is a really difficult word to define. I really like the term food citizenship because it means that whatever we’re practicing through food, we’re trying to do better. For the economy, for society, for the environment, rather than harming it in any way. And that makes us good food citizens. That’s my sort of space – to navigate through the various kinds of properties of sustainability, but it’s still a work in progress.
Elizabeth Yorke
Elizabeth is a chef turned food researcher, writer, and passionate about building creative, innovative, and sustainable food systems. She is the co-founder of Edible Issues, a collective that fosters thought and conversation on the Indian food system through research, documentation of traditional foodways, designing immersive food experiences, and public participatory projects.
Additionally, Elizabeth is building Saving Grains, an upcycling food initiative that repurposes brewers’ spent grain, inspired by the historically circular relationship between brewers and bakers.
Her work focuses on innovation, brand building, and culinary creativity, with pillars in research, communications, and culinary arts.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Elizabeth Yorke for joining us.
World on a Plate is supported by Nestlé Professional and our podcast sponsors.
