Ideas for Reducing Food Waste

I have finished reading the recently released book, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal by Tristram Stuart and highly recommend it.  The book is a comprehensive analysis of the production of food (by land and sea) from the farm to the table and the obscene amount of waste that occurs as a result.  Some of the facts and figures having to do with food security was questionable until I read my local newspaper today that reported on the USDA estimating that 1 in 7 households are battling hunger in the United States of America!  To put that in perspective, it means that 49 million people (or 14.6% of US households) are battling hunger in our country while we worry about those elsehwere on the planet.  What is worse is that 1 in 4 children in our country lives on the brink of hunger!

So what to do?  Here are some small steps that some have taken to discourage wastefulness of food while others around us are going hungry.  One restaurant (unnamed by Stuart) in East London charges customers 2.5 sterling (approx $4) that gets donated to Oxfam if they fail to finish their dinner.  Another unnamed restaurant in NYC has a similar scheme.  Another unnamed restaurant in Chicago reduced its portion sizes but will supersize for free those who request it if people ask them to do so at no extra charge.

The old world chefs lived by the waste not, want not credo and it is time we reinstill that value in today's students and hopefully the communities of which we are a part.