ALMOST £7,000 was raised at a fine dining event where the 21 dishes were made with ingredients that would otherwise gone to waste.

Headed up by sous-chef Martin Frickel, of Grasmere's The Forest Side, 'Wasted!' raised funds for the Cumbria Community Foundation, Kendal People’s Café, Windermere Food Bank and Growing Well.

“Abundance is one of the success stories of the human species, an insurance policy against a bad harvests," said Mr Frickel.

"To see what I mean all you have to do is step back into history a little and look back to the creation of agriculture around 12,000 years ago to see even then that it was all about creating surplus.

"So waste is nothing new, to that end the developed nations have around 200 per cent of the food they need and it’s acceptable to bin the surplus. It’s odd that wasting food isn’t a taboo and it should be!"

Mr Frickel worked with six professional chefs who made fudge utilising clotted cream on its use-by date and whey and offered diners crispy plaice bones.

The concept for the night came from Windermere-based events and PR company Flock.

Founders Sophia Newton and Janett Walker approached Greg Stephenson, of Gundog PR, and he instantly knew Mr Frickel was the perfect chef for the event.

Mr Frickel added: “It’s apparent the gulf between the haves and have not’s has widened. Food poverty is a reality and this coupled with the food waste agenda inspired me to do something positive and to make a difference.

"My response was to create Wasted, a pop-up restaurant, to raise funds for four brilliant charities that have helped a whole range of people access food to be able to survive.

"Wasted has been a huge success and it’s down to the dedication and hard work of everyone involved.

"But it wouldn’t have happened without the cooperation of the wholesale suppliers, producers and supermarkets who were involved in donating waste food and drink.

"It’s reassuring to note that they too recognise the need to address food waste and food poverty and by becoming involved they have showed that they are keen to really make a difference as well.’’