Food waste isn’t really a topic we talk about much. Makes sense.. It’s too nuanced for casual chitchat and it’s too mundane (or perhaps too dismal) for an engaging, novel conversation.
Aw shucks, the spinach went bad and now it looks like a swamp monster’s butt Oh nooo, didn’t eat the berries quick enough, that feels TRAGIC…*whispers* raspberries are the best..*a single tear falls down cheek* Ummm, this package of chicken smells like dead rotting flesh (lol, oh wait, that’s what meat is)
Yo.. what are we going to DO about this? Ah, yes, suppression and cognitive dissonance time!
Food waste just kinda happens in day to day life. It’s not something that most of us think about for more than maybe the 2 seconds it takes to toss a rotten apple in the trash (also tragic but not as tragic as the raspberries, somehow?). Anyway, according to The U.S. Department of Agriculture, 30-40% of food in this country is wasted. That means nearly half of all edible, consumable, delicious treats are grown, shipped, and purchased, just to be thrown away. That is messed UP!
And it’s not just food that we lose here. It’s also our self respect. (Oh… that’s just me? Cool cool cool.) Seriously though, in the process of wasting food we’re also wasting precious resources, equating to nearly a quarter of our water supply in the form of uneaten food or $172,000,000,000 (that’s one hundred and seventy two billion dollars) in wasted water.
If our global food waste was a country, it would be the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gasses on the planet - only behind, oh yeahhhh you already knowww, the always-winners-in-pollution-and-waste-data taa-daaaaa: the US and China.
Alllll this waste going on and meanwhile, 1 in 8 Americans are food insecure, and 1 in 4 people around the world don’t have enough to eat everyday.
“The food system is essential to our daily lives, and it cuts across so many aspects of our society - yet we know relatively little about it” - Adrienne Frank
Psst a lot of the food facts here I learned by reading Frank’s A Recipe for Change article in American Magazine.
Considering my debatably excessive banana intake, one stat that has truly rattled me is that over 9,500 of those yellow fruits are thrown away every minute in the US. Okay honestly WHY are people not freezing their bananas for smoothies or nice cream or banana bread? I’m floored by this. That’s coo coo! Blasphemous! Freeze your bananas, people!
Even crazier is that it takes a 42-minute shower’s worth of water to grow a single pound of bananas. Bruv. Considering the water scarcity crisis happening all across the country/globe, we gotta either stop buying stuff that we’re not eating or start freezing our damn nans.
“50% of all seafood, 22% of meat, and 20% of milk never makes it into our bellies. All told, the US is the world’s most wasteful nation, tossing 54 billion tons of food a year.”
As silly little Americans, we waste:
4.2 trillion gallons of irrigation water per year
30 million acres of cropland per year
$161 billion worth of food per year
1,250 calories per person, per day - that's like, an entire extra large pizza (or ~18 bananas)
And in case you need aaaany more convincing that this is a big ol problem, here are a few more ~not-so-fun facts~
The carbon footprint of wasted food in the US is greater than that of the entire airline industry. Oh cmon not comparing our waste to the airrrrline industry that megapolluting sonuvagun
Greenhouse gasses generated by wasted food equal that of 37 million passenger vehicles. Beep beep bitch maybe we shoulda walked
Methane generated by food in landfills is 86x more powerful than carbon dioxide. This is the same air-desecrating-gas that makes up cow burps and toots, which is why the beef industry continues to ravage the world both in terms of production aaand waste. Ugh, typical.
So, yeah, we are severely disconnected from our food systems. “Cool, Jess, now I’m just depressed, thanks.”
Wait! Friends, enemies, apathetic acquaintances (wow honestly ~honort~ you are even reading this, you must have a crush on me or something, that’s sweet), let’s not fret! Instead, let us ponder what we can do.
And while of course we always want to recognize that, yes, the systems are broken and wack and corrupt and entirelyyyy to blame - we shouldn’t punt personal responsibility. Don't get me wrong, criticizing and trying to hold accountable the powers at play is super important, but what better way to do that than through your everyday actions?
Deciding not to do something positive for the greater good just because a couple of oligarch businesses are the main driver of the problem is the laziest and lamest trope in the book. Grow up. We live in a globally connected world where information is at our fingertips that we can use to make more ethical/kind/thoughtful/cool choices. As consumers, we have SO much power and sway! Just look at the dairy industry pushing out those pathetic 'Real Milk' ads to try and discredit the environmental and nutritional benefits of plant based alternatives, shaking in their boots after everyone realized oat milk slaps and dairy actually gives them the shits. Vote with your dollars and impact with your actions. It works.
“Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act.”
Theory of relativity who? Einstein’s wisdom is relevant to food waste too, baby!
Okay, let’s get into it. What on Earth can we do to reduce food waste?
First things first (I'm the realest.. yeah that song still lives in my head rent free) - only buy what you’re definitely going to eat. OBViously! Next.
Learn how to properly store your food
Put cilantro, parsley, green onion, dill, kale, broccoli, and lots of other greens stems in a glass of water in the fridge & then cover - they keep forevaaa eva this way. (Shit was that blip of a Kanye lyric? My bad.. I don’t fuck with him anymore but his old stuff is just too good and ingrained in my brain from the formative years so sometimes you gotta have a secret Ye jam sesh in your car with the windows up or unconsciously reference him while talking about produce storage, you know what I mean? Relatable.)
Don’t store onions or garlic near other produce (they can make things go bad quicker and make potatoes sprout faster).
Keep your tater babies (and adults) in a dark, cool pantry by themselves. Potatoes might be extroverts but they need alone time just like everyone else.
Carrots and radish can be cut and stored in water in the fridge to keep them fresh for longer.
These are just a few examples. Don’t know how to properly store something?
Google it, dude. It’s crazy how often I’m on-the-spot googlin’ stuff in the kitchen like “can I drink the leftover beet water after I boil beets?” (spoiler: you can). Do it. It’s fun and easy.
Eat your produce strategically
Properly stored root veggies can keep for weeks, some even months. Eat your fresh greens, fruit, and cruciferous veggies first and make your way down the produce list to the more lengthy-lifespan stuff for a 1 way ticket to Yumtown USA.
Sign up for your city’s (or a local company’s) composting program - or, do it yourself!
Full discloshe I tried to DIY compost once but I didn’t do it right so there were some crazy nasty bugs that got in there and it was so gnarly I am honestly scarred for life but if you have the energy and passion to do it then I say go for it but no pressure and supporting composting services is cool too so yeah do you. Unrelated, intentional run on sentences are fun and cool now because this is my website and the world is burning but it won't stop turning so who cares.
Purchase less animal products
If you know me literally at all, you know I had to end here. PrEdiCtAbLe.
Although it’s true that meat and dairy account for only 30% of wasted grub, they make up a whopping 2/3 of the total agricultural land use tied to food waste. (This is also why water loss related to food waste overall is so staggering.)
Basically, producing meat/dairy uses SO much land and water in the first place that even though it only makes up 30% of food waste, it creates a disproportionately massive loss of total wasted land/water. Quite a bummer, if you will, considering all those resources are used to create no tangible benefit or output other than dead animals and more trash that end up in our landfills... ew.
More smart words on it:
"In terms of GHG emissions, wasted animal products, particularly ruminant-based (i.e., dairy and beef), result in the majority of total emissions across the supply chain. Animal products also embody the largest amount of wasted energy in food production.”
Quick sum - animal products’ carbon footprint is the worst of all foods. If we all purchased less meat/dairy and shifted towards more plant-based diets, industries would adjust, waste would be significantly reduced, and our world would be a lot better off.
Grow up. Freeze your bananas!!!
Okay, thanks for reading. Love you, bye.
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