Take some of New Zealand’s top chefs and give them a ‘mystery box’ of rescued food to create dinner for 21 guests – that’s the concept of The Shared Table, hosted by Fair Food and Tony Stewart as they launch a monthly dining series which will transform rescued food into high-end culinary experiences. Previously at the pinnacle of Auckland’s fine-dining, Tony is now quite at home as a volunteer in the more humble surrounds of Fair Food’s warehouse. The initiative, inspired by Massimo Bottura’s Refettorio model, will see the city’s most celebrated chefs step in to prove that ‘not sellable’ does not mean ‘not delicious’. The series kicked off in April with Ben Bayly, and an elite lineup of talent over the coming months includes Tom Hishon, Lucas Parkinson, Sid Sahrawat, Henry Onesemo, Michael Dearth and Federico Schincariol. It’s a tribute to the standing of Tony Stewart that chefs of such calibre are queuing up to be involved and dinners are selling out.

The challenge for these chefs is the ‘wild card’ nature of the ingredients. Chefs receive a seasonal guide of rescued items four weeks out, but the final list of ingredients isn’t confirmed until Monday of the event week, from which they create three canapés and four courses. “They have to be very astute and reasonably spontaneous,” Tony notes. Tony hopes The Shared Table will raise $50,000 for Fair Food, but more than that he wants to raise awareness of a charity that is fighting hunger in a different way. “I hope that diners take with them a food story. I hope they understand exactly what is being wasted or, in this case, what is being salvaged and that these blemished ingredients or these seconds can actually be turned into something quite special. It’s not going to be a fine-dining experience. It’s going to be very real, it’s going to be excellent, but it’s going to be understandable.” Tickets available at collections.humanitix. com/shared-table TRACY WHITMEY