10,520.716kg

Rich took me on a brilliant Magical Mystery Tour (MMT) at lunchtime. All I knew was that I was going to get fed so be hungry (good), no dressing up was required (perfect) and neither was the dog (I can cope with that).

We headed towards my old work stomping ground in Armley where I used to teach. We stopped in front of The Real Junk Food Project cafe. I had heard about the cafe before as Rich had enthused about the project and its principles for some time.

The premise is that volunteers intercept food that is about to be thrown out by restaurants and supermarkets in Leeds, take it back to the restaurant and then provide hearty, healthy and I have to say, stunningly delicious food on a Pay As You Feel basis. It works!

More restaurants are open or opening soon including one in Manchester, Brighton, another in Leeds and Shipley.

When I browsed the photos on their facebook page when I got home, I thought my facebook had corrupted as on there was a photo I'd seen on the tribute page for Keith who died in the accident last week. On clicking the photo, it turns out he had volunteered there and they too were deeply saddened by the news. I said he had touched many hearts - but his circle was even wider than I thought.

All walks of life benefit from the cafe and even Tour de France champion Greg LeMond was served there during the the Grand Départ!

Their values and statistics are well worth reading about on their website. These two things stood out for me:

By making people think about what they wish to contribute for their meals, the idea is to get society thinking about how they value food as a resource.

10,520.716kg of edible food intercepted before making it into landfill between December 2013 - June 2014

The cafe brightened up a very dismal day for me but seriously brightens up a tough quarter of the city without question.

Shameless advertising.