Our city government provides a service which allows food waste to be deposited in yard debris containers which are subsequently picked up once a week. A consequence of this is that our garbage has been reduced to one grocery bag every two weeks (the regular paper bags you pick up at stores.) We compost leftover vegetable materials so our garbage consists only of packaging that can’t be recycled, of which we have very little. In the last year or so, after learning of the incredible amount of food waste in this country, my weekly goal is to consume all leftovers and have only inedible food waste to toss out (egg shells, chicken skins, etc.) I’m conscious of this effort as I prepare food, considering how much to cook and whether or not unplanned leftovers can be frozen. The statistics are alarming and reveal that the average American family wastes 25% of food each year, which amounts to roughly $2,000. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) produced a paper in 2012 which outlined how much food is wasted overall in the U.S. The figure is 40%, which is “more than 20 lbs of food per person every month.” The paper also discusses food waste from farming and retail operations, etc., but I believe that individuals can have the most impact in reducing food waste. The Obama administration has recently announced that it would initiate a program with the goal of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030, which presumably involves public education.
The NRDC paper highlights why food waste has such a major impact on our economy and even climate change. “Getting food from the farm to our fork eats up 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget, uses 50 percent of U.S. land, and swallows 80 percent of all freshwater consumed in the United States. Yet, 40 percent of food in the United States goes uneaten. This not only means that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion each year, but also that uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills as the single largest component of solid waste where it accounts for a large portion of U.S. methane emissions.” And according to the EPA, the amount of food being tossed by Americans has been increasing rapidly every year. The agency estimates that as of 2012, we threw away 35 million tons of food, which is 20% more than in 2000 and 50% more than in 1990. It is also three times what Americans wasted in 1960. We waste more food than all other forms of garbage combined.
One of the questions, then, is why we waste more food now than in the past. The prevailing argument is that food is getting cheaper relative to rising incomes. Where the average household spent 17% of its income on food thirty years ago, we are spending 11% today. I believe, however, that because of the mechanization of food production that occurred after World War II, we developed a dependence on cheap food regardless of its quality. Home cooking gave way to fast food and cheap, industrial meat. In my father’s day, chicken was by far the most expensive meat you could buy, and so it was valued much higher than the dollar a pound sickly chicken people buy today. Since chicken was so expensive, people used every bit of it and would never allow any to go to waste. We value food less as it means less to us, largely because we have lost the art of cooking from scratch. Favorite family recipes have been replaced by processed foods, which are cheap but don’t provide any sense of tradition or value. Attitudes have been slowly changing, however, in some quarters, as people become more aware that industrialized food negatively affects our health and the environment. Organic food sales are growing. The Organic Trade Association says that “demand for organic products is increasing, and about 81% of American families reported to be purchasing organic food at least some times.”
But food waste is not just about the quality of food; it is also about economics. With wages flat, it really should matter to families that they’re throwing away about $400 per family member every year. The damage to our own economy and the environment, albeit more vague concepts for most people, still should be worth considering, as well as the fact that even though we have enough food to feed everyone, many people go hungry, in part because so much food is wasted. As the NRDC report revealed, “cheap, available food has created behaviors that do not place high value on utilizing what is purchased. As a result, the issue of wasted food is simply not on the radar of many Americans, even those that consider themselves environment or cost conscious.”
I would challenge everyone to be conscious every day about how to avoid food waste. Meal planning is key. Understanding that “sell by” and “use by” dates rarely have much to do with food going “bad” as they do with “manufacturer suggestions for peak quality.” Keeping an eye on how much food is prepared so as to avoid uneaten leftovers is also important. And using as much of any given food as possible is not only economical but reduces waste, such as making stock from meat bones or vegetable bits for non-meat stock. All of this requires thought and planning, but in the end saves money, food and the environment.
Recipe of the Week
It’s often difficult to predict how much rice will be consumed, particularly if it serves as a side dish. This recipe will not only use up uneaten rice, but can also use any little bits and pieces of meat and/or vegetables that didn’t get eaten.
Leftover Rice Cakes
For every cup of rice, add one beaten egg. That’s the basis. You can add chopped meat, chopped cooked vegetables and 1/2 cup cheese of your choice. Add any herbs and spices you want. Form the cakes into balls, lightly flatten and chill for about one half hour. If you want, you can coat the cakes with breadcrumbs before frying in three or four tablespoons of oil.