Free lunch will be handed out to 5,000 at Trafalgar Square to highlight how food is wasted in London

No, it’s not the second coming in Trafalgar Square today but rather an event highlighting the enormous amount of food wasted in London.

Enough food to fill 11,720 double-decker buses or the Albert Hall 15 times over is chucked out in the capital every year.

It is estimated the average family wastes 50 each month by throwing out unused but edible food.

To raise awareness of the financial impact of throwing away food and encourage less waste, the Feed the 5.000 event takes place today.

It will provide a free lunch for 5,000 people using food that would otherwise have gone to waste such as fruit and veg which may not look the best but is still perfectly edible.

The event will be opened by Mayor Boris Johnson, who will serve the first bowl of curry.

It will feature demonstrations from celebrity chefs and food waste expert Tristram Stuart.

There will also be a pig enclosure where food waste will be recycled as livestock feed.

People attending will be urged to sign a declaration pledging to cut food waste and calling on businesses to do the same.

Groups involved include FareShare, FoodCycle, Love Food Hate Waste and Friends of the Earth.

The Mayor is calling on businesses to be more careful about wasting food at a time when families are struggling with their finances.

He wants firms to find ways of reducing the amount of waste by redistributing unwanted food that is still edible.

Mr Johnson said: "Throwing away mountains of perfectly edible food is crazy at a time when all Londoners are feeling the pinch.

"I want to do all I can to help people to cut waste, save cash by doing so and improve our great city."

Businesses such as Waitrose, the New Covent Garden Market, Cafe Spice, Wahaca, Innocent Drinks and Abel and Cole have already signed up to the pledge.

Tristram Stuart, who organised the event today, said: "The Feeding the 5,000 public pledge is an opportunity for everyone to call on businesses, governments and citizens to help end the global food waste scandal.

"Around 80 per cent of people want to see businesses cut food waste, and businesses are now responding by signing up to the pledge. This is a problem with simple solutions that we can all help to bring about."