The Trees Community Association will be holding an Eat Your Pumpkin Carve and Cook Workshop and a Family Halloween Party to help inspire the Willingdon Trees community to eat their pumpkins and reduce the number that end up in the bin this Halloween.
According to new research from environmental charity Hubbub, across the country, 30 million1 pumpkins are expected to be bought for carving, of which 16 million2 won’t be eaten. This is the equivalent of 95 million meals-worth³ of pumpkins set to go to waste, worth £26.7 million4
The events at Willingdon Trees Community Centre are part of more than 100 taking place across the country to support Hubbub’s #EatYourPumpkin campaign which this year is calling on Halloween lovers to ditch the knife and give decorating a go. By switching pumpkin carving to decorating, the charity hopes that even more pumpkins will be eaten this Halloween.
The Eat Your Pumpkin Workshop is taking place on Friday 27th October, with the Family Halloween party happening the next day on Saturday 28th October. Both events are already fully booked.
Lisa Playford, the Willingdon Trees Project Manager for the Trees Community Association, said: “By holding these fun Halloween themed community events that highlight the tasty treats you can make from pumpkins, we really hope to inspire local residents to eat their pumpkins this year and help make this delicious food go further. The events compliment our approach to sustainable food provision where we aim to tackle food waste and food poverty – the Willingdon Trees Community Fridge and Pantry is open at the Community Centre weekdays 10am to 3pm. As well as lots of fun, families attending our Eat Your Pumpkin events will be provided with free pumpkins and the Hubbub Eat Your Pumpkin Recipe Book. You can get an average of six meals out of a pumpkin and they make a great addition to a soup or curry and taste fantastic with a wide range of flavours including ginger, chilli and sage”.
Mark Breen, Senior Creative Partner at Hubbub, said: “For ten years we’ve been inspiring the public to eat their pumpkins at Halloween. This year we’re sharing fun ideas to decorate pumpkins instead of carving them, to help them keep for longer and give people more time to cook them. If everyone cooked and ate their Halloween pumpkins, they’d be saving a combined £26.7 million4 worth of edible food from going to waste!”
On 24th October, Hubbub and award-winning children’s book writer and illustrator Rob Biddulph, will be releasing a special DrawWithRob video – his first ever not using paper. Instead, he will show three brand new designs for drawing straight onto a pumpkin with edible ink.
For the second year, this year’s #EatYourPumpkin campaign is supported by donations from the Starbucks® 5p cup charge, which is applied when a customer chooses to use a single-use cup. Introduced voluntarily in 2018, Starbucks has donated all funds to Hubbub to create stronger, greener communities.
Hubbub’s Top tips for an environmentally friendly Halloween:
· If you’d rather not waste any of your pumpkin, then get creative with your decorating. Think of alternative ways to create a spooky grimace without carving, meaning you can still eat the pumpkin
when Halloween celebrations are over! 5 Head to Hubbub’s social media channels for some step-by-step ideas for decorating your pumpkins!
· Did you know you can eat almost every part of the pumpkin? In fact, it’s only the stalk that isn’t edible. Head to Hubbub’s Eat Your Pumpkin page for tips on how to use the skin, seeds, guts and flesh of your pumpkins.
· One pumpkin can make several meals, why not freeze the bits you don’t want to use straight away and save for a rainy day?
· If you don’t like the taste of pumpkin, then why not make your own spooky decorations? From craft sets to window pens to making your own Halloween poster, there are plenty of ways you can decorate for Halloween without using a pumpkin.
Visit www.hubbub.org.uk/eat-your-pumpkin to find out more. #EatYourPumpkin