Last year I set myself a challenge to write something inspired or triggered by on each of twenty random words I’d got Google to generate for me. I realise now, I’ve only done nineteen of them, so I’ll write about #20 and then maybe generate another twenty! I struggled over a couple, and in fact I cheated with two, ‘needless’, and ‘wasteful’. The story is set in a professional kitchen and the main character has been accused of being wasteful by her boss because she had thrown away scraps while preparing dishes. Here is the second part of what I wrote, part three will follow tomorrow (‘she’ is the boss!):
Needless, wasteful!
I seized the bin and pulled out the green biodegradable food safe bag which contained every peel, root, fatty bit, bony bit, mouldy bit and inedible parts of fish, flesh, fowl and veg which I had discarded.
I found a big bowl and emptied it as she stood there whittling on. I found more bowls and separated the waste into fishy bits, meaty bits, veg – it was crazy, who would want carrot tops and tails smelling and tasting of kipper? Who would want rendered bacon fat with essence of grapefruit skin and parsley stalks?
What had caused her to erupt was the pheasant carcasses. I had been tempted to make a stock, but I’d been running out of time. I’d thought about bagging them and sticking them in the fridge to use later, but it was late and I thought I might forget them or whatever – I’d chucked them in the bin.
I’d hoped she’d leave me to it, but no, she stood over me as if I was an inexperienced kid on placement. She said nothing except to tut and sigh and mutter.
I wonder now why I hadn’t just told her I wasn’t going to do it, washed my hands, grabbed my things and left – left the kitchen, left the hotel, left the job.
It was like being on Masterchef where the challenge is to make something from discarded parts of ingredients, except not even John Torode or Monica Galetti would expect much from what I had.
Lois Elsden 