Old Station house Community Café in Stroud Green

BEST BEFORE has a lot to answer for. Arbitrary, blanket expiry dates lead to much safe edible food being thrown away. Fruit & vegetables are also often junked because they might be the wrong size, shape or colour or a bit past their peak.

Thanks to co-operation from some supermarkets, part of that food which would otherwise be wasted, now lands in the hands of Foodcycle. This charity now has an outlet in the heart of Stroud Green, in the south-middle of Haringey. The Old Stationhouse Community Café is proving popular and has so far diverted more than one metric ton of food away from landfill and into the mouths of happy customers.

FOODCYCLE is leading by example. The council and other entities have helped this worthwhile addition to the neighbourhood and community. Recent comment in the Evening Standard and on Stroud Green Dot Org has misled as to who Foodcycle is aiming at.

The café is not a soup kitchen, nor is it aimed at "ethics-conscious" squeezed "middle classes", as sniffed at by The Standard. It's not aimed at "vulnerable individuals/homeless/alcoholics" nor refugees, as speculated by one blog-poster who probably hadn't visited the café. It's aimed at all.

Patrons who I spotted on the last day open for 2010, included an old Eastender and a UK Government Minister. I met a Chilean trade unionist, a South African engineer and a Kiwi bird. But it's not a southern hemisphere UN: the common factor is hungry-at-Friday-lunchtime. A healthy three-course meal with tea or coffee is offered for £4. It is almost incidental that the café volunteers are wholly glamourous.

The café re-opens on Friday, 7th January. It is on the W3 bus route at 73c Stapleton Hall Road (N4 3QF), opposite the launderette. It's open 12 to 14:30 (Fridays only) and I recommend that anyone and everyone give it a try. No sell-by dates; but you might have to queue (and bring a doggie bag!).