"The Big Waste" - Wasting Food in America

[galmal]

Food Network did a special a while ago, highlighting the problem of food waste in America. The statistics were staggering. The show was called "The Big Waste".

"First class chefs Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, Anne Burrell and Alex Guarnaschelli tackle one of the most massive problems in food today - waste! Divided into two teams, with only 48 hours on the clock, they are challenged to create a multi course gourmet banquet worthy of their great reputations, but with a big twist; they can only use food that is on its way to the trash. The chefs' hunt takes them from grocery aisles to produce farms, and orchard lines to garbage piles, as they attempt to source enough ingredients to feed a gathering crowd. Bobby and Michael square off against Anne and Alex, as they challenge their views of food waste and how and why it is created. "

The part that I found sad was when they went to a couple of farms outside New York City and showed how much beautiful produce ends up in compost piles, simply because they might have a tiny little blemish on it. You can watch the clip from the show here - http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/channels/the-big-waste.html

 

[marlingardener]

The amount of food wasted in home kitchens is staggering, also, but I have found that if you grow it, you eat it. There is an emotional connection between dirty fingers and garden produce!
We waste very little, since the chickens will eat almost anything, and what they won't eat goes into the compost pile if it isn't fit for the stock pot.
Bless the farms and groceries that give fresh produce to soup kitchens and food pantries. And bless the consumer who focuses more on taste and freshness than on a perfect appearance when buying produce.

 

[LIcenter]

The rules have become so stringent in donating food, it has become almost impossible to give the stuff to the needy. Hence it winds up in the waste heap. So sad......

 

[tasha]

Wasting food is terrible with so many starving people out there. I must say that we try very hard not to waste any food and most of the time there are lots of leftovers that will end up as a school lunch or a salad the next day!!

 

[marlingardener]

Licenter, we are fortunate in that our food pantry, which serves the people in our community who need a bit of help, can accept fresh produce from home gardens. When our gardens are producing I can take any amount of extra vegetables in, and the vegetables are snapped up in a minute. My extra eggs, however, cannot be distributed because there is no way of telling how fresh they are, or the conditions under which they are produced. I've found a way around that little problem--I sell my eggs to people who know me and my hens, and after paying for feed, the extra money goes to the food pantry.
Waste? Just try to find a way to get what is needed to those who need it!

 

[Jewell]

Is it waste if it is composted or feed to animals? Just wondering...having lived in subsistence farming communities bounty sometimes has to be used differently than intended.

Our elementary school has 70% free and reduced lunches (mainly free). The bread man brings date expired pulled bread, eggs and milk to the school office. Kids and their families take what they want. We also provide a sack of weekend groceries for some 20-30 families to help them get through until the kids can have breakfast and lunches at school. Holiday weeks are the worse for these families. I wish a few politians could spend a month or so surviving the way some families have to. Maybe we'd find better decisions being made.

There is no easy answers for poverty, except living wage jobs.

 

[Shimus]

Not just America, but a lot of countries misuse a lot of compost produce and "slightly" blemished goods in stores for fears of health concerns and hazards. People are on a health kick now because we CAN be. We're no longer relegated to just eating what we can find and starving at the hands of the aristocracy.

But I agree waste is bad. If the produce was indeed bad, I could see composting it but if the majority of it was edible and still usable for various methods. But to just waste while people are starving is plain wrong.

 

[Momhardatwork]

It truly sickens me to see food go to waste and since I was a child, my parents used to say "Waste not want not" and it rings in my ears til this day. I think greed has engulfed most of the world and unfortunately with the day of the "Supersized" portions, I think it will be a hard thing to change. People usually have to go through hard times in order to appreciate what they have and some just know automatically to be grateful for what they have and get the most out of it.

I have to agree that gardening has definitely shaped me and my family into people that like to get the most out of our food and be as efficient as possible. I will watch the above video and thanks for sharing your views and letting me know there are those that care!

 

[headfullofbees]

Food waste IS an issue, but be careful, over here in the UK, TPTB's solution is, effectively, to make food more expensive.

 

[galmal]

If the produce was indeed bad, I could see composting it but if the majority of it was edible and still usable for various methods. But to just waste while people are starving is plain wrong.

When watching the TV show, most of the food they showed was perfectly fine - the fruit might have had a small blemish or dark spot. The veggies were a little misshapen, the tomatoes had a small split at the top - that type of thing. With the eggs, if they weren't perfectly oval shaped or if they were a little too big or too small, they were thrown out. They talked about basil - because it had started to flower, they threw it all out.

The amazing thing was, the four chefs were able to get all the food they needed to serve a 4 star, four course meal to 100 people. They talked about the idea that produce or eggs that are prefect may have a hard time selling at retail stores, but that chefs should be willing to accept food that doesn't look perfect, knowing that it tastes just fine.

 

[Rosyrain]

Food waste is very sad and I am trying to be more careful about not doing it. I used to throw away the ends of the vegetables I chop and use for dishes, but got smart recently and started saving them in the freezer in a plastic bag. I am going to use the scraps to make broths with.

 

[marlingardener]

Rosy, most of the vegetable ends and pieces can go into a stock, if you add a few herbs and a bit of pepper. I make stock all the time--trimmings from chicken (necks, ribs, backbone), beef (any stray bits that are too fatty or have sinew), and of course, vegetables. I also freeze the stock in ice-cube trays--each little square is about 1 tablespoon, so if I need stock for sauces or to add to a stew, I can just throw in a few "stock cubes."

 

[Pat]

Last summer I heard a report on the radio that there was vegetables available if a group of people could come out to the farm and pick the vegetables. The extra could go to a local food pantry. The guy on the radio was having a hard time getting enough people to help harvest the vegetables. The vegetables not picked would be put in the compost.

marlingardener thats for the stock hint. I use parts of the chicken to make stock but never thought about freezing them in ice trays.

 

[Twinsmommy31]

It is sad that we waste food so much. My husband is a truck driver/wine vendor. He has seen grocery stores throw out unopened food just because the dates have expired. This does not mean the food has expired only when the store has to have it off the shelf. It is so sad how much of this perfectly good food is wasted.

 

[Rosyrain]

The ice cube tray idea is a good one. I have been freezing my stock in mason jars, but I am always afraid they will break.

I set up a large zip lock bag in the freezer so I can store all of my veggie scraps in there, but I think it would be a good idea to set up a couple more bags for beef and chicken scraps too. That way when the bags are full I can make some soup stocks. Probably better for you than store bought stock.