I was reminded during Easter dinner with the clan of a certain truism about family life: Kids waste a lot of food. At least, my grandkids do. It’s a dinner table truism in the same category as “kids spill things” and “kids are easily distracted.”
Now, I am not judging so much as remembering. I am going back to those 1950s dinners around the table with my parents who were constantly admonishing us kids to eat our vegetables because, and I quote, “People in China are starving.” I sat there silently wondering how I might get the mushy remnants of carrots and cabbage off my plate and onto a slow boat to that country. (Our image of China was different in those Cold War years. Today, China is a thriving economic powerhouse with a high standard of living. Makes me wonder what parents say to persuade young resistant eaters these days.)
The Flat Rock River YMCA camp I attended for two summers during my elementary years had a somewhat military attitude toward food. “Take what you want, but eat what you take” was drummed into us. It was also a rule that at the end of the meal we were to take a slice of white bread and sop up what food we left on our tray. I assumed it made it easier for the dishwashers to clean up. Anyway, I, like all my cabin buddies, did as told. Who were we to argue with our superior officers?
I’m not sure when people transition from wasteful eaters to members of the Clean Plate Club. I think some never do. I recall cafeteria duty during my middle school teacher days. The ladies on the front end of the lunch line would scoop heaps of vegetables and fruit onto the students’ trays while the ladies at the other end would dutifully scraped tray after tray of rejected food into barrels. Food consumed at those cafeteria tables seemed to come from individual packages of Doritos and bags of Gummy Bears.
I want to chalk food waste up to the nature of kids, but the truth is we adults can be just as wasteful. And waste, it appears, is a result mostly of the excesses of our wealthy, abundant Western lifestyle. The numbers bear this out. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Roughly one third of the food in the world produced for human consumption every year—approximately 1.3 billion tons—is lost or wasted.”
Even more troubling is that the richer the country, the more waste it produces. Every year, those of us living in North America and Europe, places with an abundance of food, waste almost as much food (222 million tons) as the entire net food production for Sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tons). The average American wastes about 219 pounds of food a year.
My eyes tend to glaze over too many numbers and figures. What is more useful to me is information on how I can do my part in eliminating my personal 219 pounds of food waste. I found some suggestions that are easily doable.
For example, experts say buying too much food at one time tends to generate more waste. I should shop more often and buy less during each trip. I should also be less picky when buying fruits and vegetables. Accepting slight imperfections in my peaches and pears, carrots and cabbage reduces food waste. I should eat leftovers and when storing them, keep the refrigerator as clutter-free as I can manage so as to easily see what is available. FIFO or “First in; First out” is a good method for eliminating fridge food waste.
These are only a few ideas that could apply to our household. Dozens of others are out there. I’m not sure about the logistics of food distribution, but it seems to me the less food wasted, the more there might be for others. Being a member of the Clean Plate Club just makes sense.
