The Slow Food USA Blog

A Picture of What We Eat and What We DON’T Eat

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Sunday's NY Times article about how much food gets thrown out in this country was notable both because of its thesis–perhaps now that food prices and food scarcity are on the rise, people will be ready to engage in a conversation about reducing food waste–but also for its picture.

Were we the only ones who noticed a similarity to the beautiful photographs from the 2005 book Hungry Planet? This one looks like the evil twin of those–not what we eat, but what we throw away. Chilling stuff.

A lot of that waste is institutional, of course (restaurants, schools, etc.) but there is personal waste as well. The first thing to do is to be a conscious shopper, and to try to plan for the week–making what you need and cooking/preserving/freezing the rest. If organic matter goes bad (or even if it doesn't!), you can compost it. For tips on managing household organic waste, see our February 28th posting.