Both beer and bread were previously regarded as history’s greatest culinary collaboration, even though they may appear like an odd match now. The practice of bakers and brewers working side by side in the same structure dates back to Ancient Egypt and possibly even earlier.
Elizabeth Yorke, a Bengaluru-based Chef turned Food Researcher, co-founder of the food publication Edible Issues, and champion for sustainability in food systems. She started the organisation ‘Saving Grains’ in 2021, as a way to utilise one of the city’s most thriving F&B sectors – microbreweries – to revive that ancient partnership between baker and brewer.
Her initiative takes the spent grain, leftover produce after extracting the beginnings of beer, and turns it into “good flour,” a sustainable product with many possibilities and benefits. The flour is turned into several goodies, including cookies, brownies, bread, and even rotis.
Yorke is a qualified chef who holds a culinary degree from Manipal and has worked under William Rubel, a bread expert and food historian in California, as well as at the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore. During her time with Rubel in 2016, she learned about the long-standing bond between brewers and bakers.
According to reports, “I spent about 7 years in and out of the kitchen but there was always a curiosity looming about where my food was coming from and where it went,” Elizabeth says, recalling what drove her to start Saving Grains.
“I wanted to know everything from waste management and reduction to marketing to social media and how all of that played into my role as a chef in the food system. It sparked a drive in me to go out and intern at different places and then bring the knowledge back and apply it in the kitchen.”