Oxford surplus curry initiative expands to second location

Lord Mayor of Oxford Lubna Arshad (right) was among the guests at the launch of the initiative's second location

A community food waste reduction initiative has expanded to another location.

Community ambassador Sâmân Jamshidifard and the volunteers will now be serving free surplus curry in The Corner House in Wood Farm, Oxford, every Thursday.

The initiative follows on from its success on Botley Road.

Guests to the launch event on Thursday included Lord Mayor of Oxford Lubna Arshad who cut a ribbon to mark the occasion.

Sâmân Jamshidifard said he was "incredibly grateful" to Tracy Dennell, manager of both Seacourt Bridge and The Corner House pubs, for her support

Mr Jamshidifard started Botley Community Kitchen Surplus Curry, which uses the hashtag #SurplusCurry on social media, last year.

Free meals are cooked at Seacourt Bridge pub and served at St Frideswide Church on Fridays.

He said he and his team of volunteers had realised that to reduce food waste "cooking one curry in one place, once a week, doesn't do it".

Mr Jamshidifard, who works as a lecturer at Oxford Brookes Business School, has been involved in many surplus and food waste initiatives.

The ingredients he uses come from Oxford Food Hub which provides surplus food to more than 200 charity groups.

The Corner House pub is the second location in Oxford where free curry is served

He said he was now looking for volunteers locally to Wood Farm to cook.

"It's more sustainable when the volunteers are local to it," he added.

He said between 100 and 150 people attended his curry days.

"By having conversations about the surplus, you fix a lot of other social issues as a by-product," he said.

"I'd rather say, 'you're helping me reduce waste by joining this initiative and when you do that as a side effect of it, you reduce your loneliness as well'."

Ms Arshad said the launch of Wood Farm Community Kitchen Surplus Curry "shows just how well different organisations and people of all backgrounds come together".

"This is the area where I've grown up and I would love to continue supporting the project by letting people know it exists", she said.

Project volunteers like James Hart prepare the food and make portions for people to take away

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