Last week, Princess Marie attended the official launch event of the “Food with Respect” cookbook in Copenhagen. Princess Marie took part in the book by writing the foreword and sharing four of her own recipes but a new interview with the author of the cookbook and founder of the Stop Wasting Food Movement, Selina Juul reveals that the Princess was heavily involved in the creation process of the book for the past three years.
In an exclusive interview with our Europe Correspondent, Heaven LeeMiller, Selina Juul explained how she and Princess Marie had the idea for a cookbook that would help families reduce food waste: “Numbers from the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark show that the biggest food wasters are actually families with children because they have a very hard time to stop wasting food. They have no time because they are busy. So the Princess and I decided, almost three years ago, to get this book started because this book should be helping families to stop wasting food in a very tangible way.“
Princess Marie also took part in the selection process of the chefs that would share their recipes in the cookbook. Selina Juul explained that it was a long process because they wanted chefs that were really supporting the fight against food waste: “The Princess and I gathered good chefs. One of them Francis Cardenau – who is a French chef – also worked on my first book. With Chef Michel Michaud and the Princess also being French, we have a very French influence! We took a lot of time to pick the right chefs because we really wanted to have some people who are really into the Stop Wasting Food movement and not only because they are celebrities or want to be in a book with the Princess. They have to be there for the cause. That is why we picked these five people who are amazing, and most of them are ambassadors for the Stop Wasting Food Movement so it was easy to get them on board.”
Finally, Juul touched on how important having Princess Marie working with them is as it helps the association reaching a different and wider audience: “ We are so fortunate to collaborate with the Princess because the Princess is a very kind person and really has a heart in the right place. The Princess is really all-in for the cause. It’s so good for the movement, for people to see that the Princess is on board because before a lot of people who were already “green” were already into Stop Wasting Food but because we collaborate with the Princess, we can attract a whole new type of people who maybe weren’t concerned about food waste. So, because the Princess is on board, we can reach more and more people. Last year, the Princess was in our education campaign with the municipality of Copenhagen and that was good because when the Princess is on board, the more and more people are listening and the more and more people say “Hey, that’s a very good message!” People will get inspired, they go home, they start thinking about it, and then they start acting and they find out that they can save time and money!”
The Stop Wasting Food movement was created by Selina Juul in 2008, and Princess Marie has been an official partner since 2016. She attends several events with them each year and has taken part in several of their projects in addition to the cookbook including the Annual International Stop Wasting Food Dinner. The fight against food waste has been one of Princess Marie’s main causes in the past few years, and she also included another one of her patronages in the cookbook project as each copy sold triggers a donation to DanChurchAid, a Danish charity working to fight hunger in Africa.
