Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Is this milk still good?

About every week I go through my refrigerator and throw out all the expired foods, leftovers, and produce that has gone bad. I'm always ashamed of myself, but I would bet that everyone reading this blog has done this. Tristram Stuart's book Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal examines the topic of wasted food, but on a much larger and more global scale. When I was younger I used to hear all the time that there were starving people in Africa, so I should finish the food on my plate. While it is true that there are starving people all over the world, it is not because there is a lack of food. Stuart claims that there is more than enough food in the world to feed everyone, but because so much food is wasted, people go hungry. He examines the enormous levels of food waste created by affluent countries, such as the U.S. and western Europe, from the farmers, to the grocery stores and consumers. He also examines the factors that cause much food to be wasted in countries where poverty and hunger is rampant, such as Pakistan. Stuart suggests solutions we can all incorporate into our lives, such as reducing the amount of food we buy (no more BOGO free), not sticking to the strict and overly cautious expiration dates (not a problem for me!), and composting. One of Stuart's personal solutions to this problem was to become a "freegan" which is someone who essentially dumpster dives for food. While I'm not sure I could do this, he finds a shocking amount of perfectly good food. This is a fascinating book, and has definitely made me think twice about letting food go to waste. The pictures alone of the piles of wasted food are enough to make you cry.

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