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If you're not going to eat that, please don't buy it.
I've been ruminating lately on the idea of food waste. It's a hot topic right now and I feel like I'm reading about it everywhere. Maybe there'll be a tipping point where if enough people become familiar with the idea, (or if enough people run out of money), more people will stop wasting so much damn food. So, here, long overdue (to whomever is reading), are some thoughts and ideas on the subject.
The image below shows what a family of four's portion of America's food waste would look like, monthly, translated into identifiable products. So, all the waste from all sources, divided up amongst households in America.
That's a lot of food, right?
Here's basically the same information, translated into dollar amounts. This image is what the country's food waste looks like across the board (restaurants, markets, homes and other food-service outlets) for a year:
That's a lot of money, right?
Of course, many of us might say...."well it doesn't like like that! It looks like this":
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| GROSS! HOW LONG HAS THAT BEEN IN THE FRIDGE? I'M NOT EATING THAT! |
And that right there is the problem, and what I want to write about here today.
I've been reading a lot of pretty shocking and frankly disgusting statistics and information about the problem of food waste, and though I'm not going to use this blog to make any claims about those statistics, (I'm not doing a research paper here), I think it's fair to say that though opinions might vary about what constitutes 'waste' and that there may be differing ways of calculating it, it seems reasonable to say that in the end, whether it's a quarter or a third, the fact is that we throw away a significant part of our food products in this country. It's a major source of lost energy, money, and resources, and is something that can be improved upon. Should be improved upon. Even "Ladies Home Journal" is getting into the mix here, suggesting ways to save on food waste.
That's pretty mainstream, so....maybe people are starting to think.
I think there are a bunch of problems going on simultaneously, particularly in this country, relating to how we use and view food. There's the whole 'we eat too much' thing, and the whole 'Americans eat junk" thing, and both topics have been discussed to death and I'm not sure it's fair to say those problems are limited to America. At least not anymore. I'm not interested in those topics because I think those are subjects better left to dieticians and healthy food advocates. To the extend that there is crossover between healthy food preparation and waste-reducing food preparation, I'm interested.
However, I do think there are a few newer issues that are going on that are contributing to our national habit of food waste. They are, in no particular order:
- Food TV and the general fetishisation of 'fancy', exotic, or otherwise unfamiliar food and the weird phenomenon of the "Celebrity Chef".
- Lack of basic food preparation knowledge, or kitchen or home-economics understanding across all ages.
- Oversensitivity to the idea of 'imperfect' food.
To begin, who doesn't enjoy a good episode of "Iron Chef"? It's fascinating, exciting and ridiculous. And I can't get enough of "Chopped", it's riveting. But, while it interests me as an ex-cooking professional to see what kind of nonsense the contestants are going to be asked to pull from their mystery baskets, I'm not sure it's educational. (Really? An entree that incorporates ding-dongs and sausage?) However, it's not supposed to be. Neither is "Cupcake Wars" (which thrills Olivia to no end), or "Food Truck Wars" or "Extreme Outdoor Grillmaster" or...whatever...I made that one up. However the proliferation of this kind of show indicates how obsessed we are with food, it's preparation, and most importantly - it shows that food is now another source of entertainment in a new way. We're not entertained by going out to restaurants only, now we want to WATCH our food on TV. Food in these shows has been stripped of it's basic place in the world which should be that of nourishment. I'm sure that there are plenty of straight cooking instruction shows, recipes with Rachel Ray or whomever, but overall I see the trend going towards us watching food preparation like we'd watch golf, or the WF perhaps (depending on which show). I don't think it's necessarily responsible to disregard practicality and expense, or nutritional value - and those things are not addressed in the 'competition' style shows at all. People watch these shows fanatically, and if they do take away some notion of wanting to try something at home, I think that the chances are a lot of it gets thrown away when it fails to perform as expected.
Put too much fish sauce in those Pad Thai noodles, did you? Awww...too bad.
CHUCK IT! FAST! BEFORE YOU PASS OUT!
It's too bad it's not exciting, because I think it would be much more important for someone to find a way to make it sexy to teach people the real basics about their food. On TV if necessary. What it is, how to prepare various items in a variety of ways, and some essential skills in the kitchen. It's too bad that most schools don't have 'home ec' anymore, and I certainly don't mean just for girls - It would be amazing if all kids were empowered to learn how to work in the kitchen and be at least somewhat self-sufficient. Better yet, if there was extensive eduction in the concept of general nutrition, so that they could know what was in their food, how to use it, and then be able to find their way around a kitchen later. Is it any wonder that there's a weight issue? Nobody knows how to cook! We no longer respect the materials.
And the shows that people are watching, thinking that they are 'learning something about food' might make them want to 'try something' but all they'll wind up with is a fridge full of partially used expensive specialty ingredients that they don't know how to work with. It would be much better if everyone knew how to make wholesome basics, from scratch, and never mind the "foie gras-stuffed quail grilled with honeyed figs and served over toasted quinoa salad" shenanigans. Leave that stuff to the professionals, I say. Or...skip it entirely. (Maybe not the quinoa.. Ok, figs are good.)
I do have a friend who runs small cooking classes and whose agenda, so to speak, is to teach people how to not only use their healthy food resources fully, but in many ways that save both time and money ultimately. I'm sure she's encountering students whose basic skills need honing, but in addition to those basics, they're also taking away time-saving and waste-reducing new skill sets. Purple Kale Kitchenworks is, I think, full of great ideas - and Ronna's site is a rich resource of recipes tips and tricks.
However, I would venture to say that for the average person in this country - even ratcheting it back a couple notches to simple Better Crocker-level basic cooking skills would be a step in the right direction. When I go to my local bad supermarket, which I think is probably representative of the average shopping experience in the U.S., I would say that more than half of the people in the check out line don't have a single item in their carts that I would personally identify as food. Everything is in a box or a can. EVERYTHING. I guess it's efficient - it all stacks up nicely - but it's not food. Will it last longer in your freezer? Sure, but that's hardly a good reason to buy french bread pizza or a package of frozen mini-burgers.
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| DEFINITELY NOT FOOD.IS THE LETTUCE FROZEN TOO? |
Nobody knows how to cook! They're boiling stuff in bags, microwaving
after puncturing the film, heating up in a pan on the stove top, or
otherwise 'cooking' the contents of the boxes and cans. And yet -
everyone loves the idea of cooking. It's just a lost art. I argue that
it has moved completely out of the regular home kitchen and firmly into
the realm of 'spectator sport'.
And finally, not only do people not know how to cook, they also don't know how much to cook, or how to use what they bought. I know everyone is busy and can't necessarily shop every two days to keep it fresh and so forth. But in general people tend to stockpile in a way that is kind of (I think) obsessive and weird. Nobody needs 5 quart-sized cans of cling-peaches in syrup unless they are running a soup kitchen.
This article is actually very interesting, and addresses both the idea of Pantry Challenge, waste statistics, and also this general squeamishness people have about so-called spoiled food. Ladies Home Journal on waste reduction.
There's this term going around, "Pantry Challenge", and it refers to trying to basically use up everything you have stored away (without buying more) until it's all gone. I periodically get pretty close, but have not gone 100% yet. There's still always that one package of glass noodles I haven't used yet for chapchae, or that one box of crackers that just doesn't seem all that exciting. And, I'm as guilty as any of buying some funky thing or other that I plan on using and never do (box of Kasha grain anyone?), but my space limitations probably keep me in check. For the vast majority of people in this country for whom it's not unheard of to have a second fridge or freezer in the basement or garage - and a huge pantry to boot - can you IMAGINE how much food they've got in there? Now, that's not really talking about waste, unless you get to the point where your food is 'expired' and you throw it away. That is something that is just outrageous in my opinion. Nobody should ever have so much excess of a non-perishable food that they wind up having to throw it away.
It's NON-PERISHABLE. You should be able to use it before it 'expires', and if you can't - you bought too much.
I'm not sure I personally believe in the expiration date thing, but that's me. I won't try to convince anyone, I just know what I feel comfortable with. However, I do think that people are way too squeamish about food imperfection. I personally know more than a few people who 'won't eat leftovers'. I guess in an ideal world, we all know how to cook exactly the right amount of food for exactly how hungry we are, for each meal, and use it all up. That would be great, but it's not practical. Personally I happen to be pretty good at reintroducing leftovers reused or re-prepared so to speak, but I attribute that both to my professional training and also to my personal lack of tolerance for food-pickiness. Some of what Ronna teaches at Purple Kale kind of dovetails with this - she provides people with the skills to break down their ingredients in ways that not only prolong their shelf-life in the first place, but which also renders them useful in more than one way. There are no 'left overs' - only new ingredients!
Now, don't get me wrong. If something is actually spoiled, I'll throw it away. (Don't worry - you don't have to be afraid to eat at my house or anything) - but the key is not to let anything be around long enough to spoil, or if it's getting iffy - knowing how to use it up. I can do it, and regularly do, but most people don't even try. Why are we so sensitive about this stuff? I firmly believe that we are BUILT, actually engineered physically to be able to handle a little bit of imperfection in our food. Do you know what our ancestors ate? I'm not saying ok to rotten meat, or putrid milk, but I am saying - if that strawberry is a bit soft but not moldy - why not freeze it for smoothies? If that cheese has a mold spot on one side - can't you cut it off? Give me a break, how sensitive do you think your stomach is? After all, what the hell is cheese in the first place?
I'm not sure why everyone is so afraid to use common sense when it comes to determining if food is ok to eat. I think the dreaded spectre of 'food poisoning' is a bit too scary for everyone, and they go overboard. People throw away two-day old leftovers just because they don't feel like eating that again. Restaurants and food markets throw away tons of food for minor imperfections (box crushed? spots on the banana?). And in addition, we're working with an unrealistic model - we all expect our fruit aisles to be heaping with perfect spot-free (but organic!) fruit, ripe and ready, (but not too ripe), and our meat to all look like it just came from a farmer butcher. What happens to all the stuff that no longer looks perfect enough for us to tolerate? It gets thrown out.
Guess what? I think we're spoiled, and I think we've spoiled our children if we let them think this is ok. As a whole, I think that awareness needs to start at home - if we all buy less, and use most (or at least more) of what we buy, there will be less waste. If we improve our cooking skills and pass them down to our kids, if we realistically know our cooking limitations and try harder to just make the right amount of wholesome and nutritious basic food, rather than trying to be Martha Stewart every day, if we order less in restaurants and commit to taking home the leftovers (and EATING THEM), if the restaurant and hospitality industry, and the supermarkets, would participate more in better ordering practices and, where available, participate in food-recyling programs, and if we get over ourselves a little and remember that food wasted is just as bad as money and resources wasted, every little bit would help. I think it starts with each person teaching their children how to respect food, how to use it and prepare it correctly, and how to eat what they are given. Yes, there may be 'starving in children in some other country', but there are also starving children here. Everything that we throw out can't go directly to them, but the funds we save by not wasting food can.
Put a jar in the kitchen, and every time you eat that less than thrilling but still perfectly good half-a-sandwich from the deli instead of chucking it - you put $2.50 in the jar. (Or, $4.50 if you're talking about a sandwich from Court Street Grocers). Every time you put a peeled soft banana in the freezer to use in a smoothie instead of throwing it out - put a quarter in the jar. Each time you use a half a box of pasta instead of a whole one, because you know you're not going to eat it all that day - put a little more money in the jar for the pasta you would otherwise throw out three days later.
This has turned out rather a rant. I didn't meant to do that. Simply put, I'm going to try to clear out my cabinets and freezer (and not by throwing the food out, but by using it), and after that, I'm going to try not to buy anything I'm not going to use. I'm going to continue to use up leftovers, or try not to cook more than necessary, and I'm going to make a habit of ordering less rather than more in restaurants. I'm going to do my part to reduce our household's contribution to the obscene amount of waste of food resources (and the energy used to produce them). And I'm going to start teaching my kids how to use food properly. That is my vow. I'll let you know how it goes.
