Wasted Food

A subscriber showed me this article and I wanted to share it with everyone. http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/27/world/europe/food-waste-emissions-pichler/index.html I find the pictures gorgeous especially considering what they portray. At first, I didn’t really know what was being photographed. And then I realized all the exotic and alluring shapes and textures were spoiled food. The pictures almost look like advertisements, this “high-end, fashion magazine finish” reflecting the “‘over-commoditization’ of food as a lifestyle accessory.” So then, the solution to this over=commoditization is to stop thinking of food as a cheap commodity. What if food was a valuable investment? What if we could think about all the work and energy that went into a product when we bought it, rather than just which is cheaper? We need to value food more and take the extra effort to avoid throwing away unnecessarily.

For the last few days after I told my mom the shocking 1/3 statistic, we were both noticeably more aware of what we were throwing away. We just need to bring this awareness to every day. It’s such a simple, direct way to stop the wasting of energy and decrease carbon emissions. What if, at the end of every month, we stopped ourselves from buying new food and forced ourselves to finish off leftovers, be resourceful, and use the food we already have? And when we do buy food, we should buy from stores and brands that we think are the least wasteful. As the article points out, it is in the end a cultural issue and our culture is defined by us, so our choices around food are truly the biggest thing we can do to redefine the culture when we find it wasteful and harmful. It goes past carbon emissions and science and is truly about how we view food.

At Chewonki I discovered the fast as a way to grow my appreciation of food and further my understanding of how it affects me. While on my solo, when I spend a few days in the woods, I chose to fast. I’ve done a few one day fasts since then and plan on a three day fast this weekend. It’s remarkable and inexplicable what I’ve found out about food and it’s value. It’s definitely a “you dont know what you’ve got til it’s gone” phenomenon. Along with the numerous health benefits which you can read about here http://mushpanjwani.com/2009/08/23/11-health-benefits-of-fasting/,  it is a personal, spiritual, new look at food.

-Simon