Beer from bread

Tristram Stuart, a British author,  makes beer from bread. Why not? They have the same ingredients: water, grain, and yeast. And there is enough wasted bread around. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that a third of all food produced globally—approximately 1.3 billion tons worth—is wasted every year. Stuart is also a food waste activist and has started the Feeding the 5000 event, in which mass public dinners are made from surplus food.

He calls his beer Toast ale. Each pint has the equivalent of one slice of bread in it. This is not a fly-by-night venture; the company has brewed 9 tons of bread since its inception. This summer it began exporting to the U.S. It is now brewed and canned in the Bronx by the Chelsea Craft Brewing Co. in roughly 10,000 can batches. It is available at Whole Foods Inc. and at select restaurants such as Tom Colicchio’s Craft and Dan Barber’s Blue Hill.

Stuart now makes three varieties: a lager called Much Kneaded; Bloomin’ Lovely, a session IPA; and Purebread, a pale ale.