Regional Competition

One-third of all food ends up in the garbage worldwide, but the Austrian activist David Gross wants to change that. In his car, which runs on cooking oil, he embarks on a five-week journey through five European countries. He tows a garbage container converted into a mini-kitchen, which he uses to prepare meals of discarded food. Wastecooking introduces us to chefs, scientists and activists and presents simple solutions to the food waste epidemic. A Dutch chef explains how he uses all parts of a pig carcass, while people in a Berlin commune live on wild fruit that grows in the city. The camera follows Gross into the kitchen as well, visiting random people in their homes and watching what they intend to throw in the trash. The edibles are collected and a culinary expert makes a sumptuous dinner out of them. During nocturnal musings Gross comes to a few practical recommendations: look in the fridge before you go shopping, encourage local government to make supermarkets bring their surplus to the food bank, and eat local whenever possible.