Unaware customers were startled when Prince William showed up as the waitress distributing vegetarian burgers at a food truck in London.
The meat-free burger was constructed using the environmental solutions of the 2022 winners of The Earthshot Prize in a collaboration between the British heir to the throne and YouTube channel Sorted Food.
In a video posted to the channel on Sunday, the Sorted Food team was seen cooking the burgers with Earthshot supplies Prince William had given them, before going outside to serve diners from a food truck.
Four Earthshot burgers were ordered by a team member, and as the “chef” turned around to answer, gasping diners saw that it was Prince William.
One of the women in the video said, “Of all the things I was expecting, it was not that,” and afterwards enquired of others, “What just happened?”
One man continued, “My brain took about three seconds to buffer.” Is this a dream? Have I had enough rest?
Another customer said, “I was at a loss for words.
Customers were informed by William that the Earthshot Prize, a 10-year initiative he created in 2020, seeks to “repair and restore the planet.”
The award honours those who have made significant contributions to the environment in five categories: “Protect and Restore Nature,” “Clean Our Air,” “Revive Our Oceans,” “Build a Waste Free World,” and “Fix Our Climate.”
Prince William’s presence at Sorted Food’s studio and food truck was a “pinch me” moment, according to Jamie Spafford, co-founder of the company. “Hearing him explain how passionate he is about helping the planet and what the Earthshot Prize is doing was incredibly inspiring, and has already given us a lot of ideas for future projects to work on with our community,” Jamie Spafford said in the release.
Utilising veggies that would typically be cultivated in Kheyti’s Greenhouse-in-a-Box, the Sorted Food team created plant-based burgers. According to the prize’s website, the invention of the Indian start-up is intended for small-holding farmers and provides protection for their crops from erratic weather and harmful pests.
After that, the team prepared the meal on Mukuru Clean Stoves, which Charlot Magayi introduced to Kenya in 2017. The webpage for the prize claims that when burning, they emit 90% less pollution than an open fire and 70% less than a conventional cookstove.
After that, the burgers were served in Notpla food boxes, which are composed of plants and seaweed rather than plastic.