New Vancouver restaurant to source all ingredients from dumpsters

Kitsilano’s Slöp is taking ‘zero-waste’ to new heights

With a new menu launching this month, Slöp is once again revolutionizing the food scene in Vancouver. Many restaurants have been re-examining their food waste and output in the wake of new research that suggests over a third of North America’s food supply is wasted every year—some even creating special dishes from scraps that might otherwise be discarded—but celebrated chef Taryn Minkus is taking things one step further, sourcing ingredients directly from dumpsters.“You wouldn’t believe what people throw away: carrots that are just a little rubbery; cereal that’s just a day past the expiration date; perfectly good boxes of dog eye medication; tasteful nude photos,” Minkus says. “Every morning, I’ll pop into the alleyway behind my ex-girlfriend’s building and just see what sparks inspiration.” With a constantly changing menus, foodies will find something new to marvel at daily, whether it’s coffee grounds that have been artfully converted into a coffee gazpacho, or old eggs just piled in a bowl.Minkus says that despite the avant-garde concept, it’s his classical training that informs the food on his plates. “It’s sort of a Vietnamese-French-garbage fusion,” says the chef, who cut his teeth overseas at innovative restaurants like WRAP (where customers bring in any food to have it wrapped in a burrito, and then are swaddled and fed) and John Macintyre’s Emilio Collin’s Burger Haus (where the restaurant itself was actually constructed from ground beef). So will diners take a shine to his groundbreaking idea? “We’ll see,” Minkus says. “But I think Vancouver’s ready for this—and ready to lead the way.”