The ScrapsBook: Ikea’s waste-saving cookbook that teaches how to repurpose kitchen scraps

Ikea and the food of the future

The ScrapsBook is the title of the cookbook by Ikea that promotes zero-wasting cooking and teaches how to reduce food waste, by turning it into original and sustainable dishes. Once again a foray into the world of food by the Swedish ready-to-assemble furniture giant, that in recent years has paid increased attention to the nutrition research towards a more conscious consumption, the individual well-being and the environmental protection. Long gone are the days when the famous meatballs became a bestseller in Ikea stores, just like a Billy bookcase. Or rather: leaving meatballs’ worldwide popularity untouched (they are still available on Ikea menus all over the world), time ago the Swedish company entrusted one of its research centre with the testing of new products – plant-based products ahead – that will represent the food of the future. The latest initiative promoted by Ikea Canada – accessible online and for free from all over the world – already portrays the present of the cooking and its challenge to food waste.

The Scrapsbook. The waste-saving cookbook

The cookbook “for your kitchen scraps” was created in collaboration with ten North American chefs and it is one of the projects that falls within Ikea’s commitment to becoming a circular and climate positive business by 2030. Although very engaged with the cause, Canada is one of the countries with the highest food wastage per capita: about two-thirds of still edible food is wasted. Developed by the agency Rethink – which already promoted fresh initiatives for the Swedish company in the past – Ikea is releasing a composite and comprehensive cookbook with recipes listed by difficulty, but always easy to try out with leftovers. The e-book is available on Apple Books and Google Play Books, or to download from the Ikea Canada website: “We believe the kitchen is the heart of the home” explains the cookbook introduction. “Unfortunately, it tends to be a wasteful place – but it doesn’t have to be”. Thus, ample room for creativity with fifty recipes that will help you live more sustainably in your kitchen. And it continues: “Scrapcooking is about finding the beautiful possibilities in that banana peel or even the chicken bones you’re about to toss, and make the most of everything available to you. It’s little things like these that can add up to make a big difference”.

Recipes with food scraps

The cookbook includes recipes for breakfast, mains, a good variety of sides, soups and salads, snacks and desserts, besides a section with scrappy tips: very easy to follow, they will help you to waste less. It opens with a pancake recipe, flavoured with the most common vegetable peelings, from broccoli, carrot greens to potato peels; but a tasty breakfast can be a French toast made from spent coffee grounds and stale bread, or a no-waste omelette as well. And what about turning banana peels into “veggie bacon”? Main courses include recipes such as the forgotten vegetable stew, flotsam filo pies to repurpose leftovers, banana peel chutney on shrimps (bananas are very versatile in the kitchen). Of course, a meatball recipe could not be missing, this time in the “clean-out-the-fridge” version. In the coming weeks, Ikea Canada will launch live cooking tutorials on Instagram to help aspiring amateur zero-waste chefs with their Sunday lunch scrapcooking. Hashtag #Scrapcooking Sundays.

by Livia Montagnoli