Inspired by the challenge of reducing food wastage at its venues in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, COYA, the contemporary Peruvian restaurant, creates dishes out of every possible aspect of its perishable produce, including vegetable stalks and peelings, meat trimmings and bones, and seafood shells.
COYA’s Middle East Executive Chef, Benjamin Wan, says: “Tackling food waste is certainly a major concern and something of a ‘work in progress’ for the regional and global restaurant industry. At the simplest level, we create a more sustainable kitchen through waste minimisation. A little creative thinking can decrease waste significantly by utilizing every part of the fruits, vegetables, seafood, and meat that people often don’t think of as edible, transforming them into something delicious.”
Chef Ben and COYA’s restaurant staff challenge each other to find new uses for the produce that arrives daily to create the venue’s signature dishes. The restaurant makes cooking stocks from chicken, beef, and fish bones, as well as shrimp and lobster shells.
Top-grade tuna and salmon bones have been scraped of their meat and are added to the taco filling. Trimmings from beef ribs are used to make beef bao filling. And, after using the corn for corn salad, the cob goes to pastry to be used as an infusion for sweet corn ice cream, Sunday de Maiz. Vegetable stalks and peels are used for stock as well as garnish.
COYA’s innovation in developing a sustainable kitchen also extends to its celebrated Pisco Bar and Lounge, where mixologists create beverages incorporating produce trimmings from the kitchen that would otherwise be thrown out.
