Tristram won the international environmental award, The Sophie Prize 2011, for his fight against food waste. His books The Bloodless Revolution (2006) and Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal (Penguin, 2009) are regarded as cutting-edge. His 'Feeding the 5000' event and campaign, where 5000 people get a free lunch using only ingredients that otherwise would have been wasted, has spread globally following the first such event in London's Trafalgar Square.