Going Cold Turkey; Let’s Talk Food Waste
Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and many of us are spending today grocery shopping, cooking, and brainstorming clever ways to avoid political conversations with our extended families. When dinner is over tomorrow and our friends and family begin to shuffle out of the house, we will convince some of our guests to take what’s left of their favorite dishes home with them. The rest of the leftovers will go in our refrigerators and we will look forward to eating pumpkin pie and turkey (or tofurkey) sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next few days.
However, for every person that manages to finish their Thanksgiving leftovers, there are many more people who will end up throwing their leftovers in the trash. That food waste will be taken to a landfill where it will emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change, until it finishes decomposing. For all the joy and time with family that we think about with Thanksgiving, there’s also the guilt — overeating, throwing out food, the controversial origins of the holiday in general. For those of us fortunate enough to gather with our friends and family for a meal together tomorrow night, let’s be conscious of our consumption by trying to change our habits starting with Thanksgiving dinner.
Here are a few suggestions:
Buy less food: Nobody wants their Thanksgiving guests to leave feeling hungry, but we often overestimate how much of our Brussels sprouts casserole will actually be eaten.
Compost your scraps: If you find yourself discarding the potato skins you’re peeling to prepare the mashed potatoes, compost them instead of throwing them in the trash. Better yet, use a recipe that teaches you to use the skins in your mashed potatoes.
Donate your leftovers: Even if you do not have leftovers because you sized your portions correctly this year, you can buy food such as fresh produce to donate to a local homeless shelter or food desert community.
Buy ugly produce: This suggestion comes with a bit of an interesting debate; and for our younger readers, you can bring up this issue to divert your relatives from asking when you’re getting married and/or having children! Misshapen produce often does not make its way to your local grocery store because it is not “beautiful” enough for display. Various startups have been created to sell this misshapen produce at a discounted price to consumers in major urban areas through e-commerce. This model can be problematic for a myriad of reasons outlined in this article and illuminated by food justice projects such as Phat Beets Produce. Based on which side of the debate you come out on, you can buy products from your favorite ugly produce company that you feel is not exacerbating the problems created by the American food system, invest in said favorite company, boycott these startups altogether, and/or do good by following the next suggestion.
Volunteer at a community agriculture garden to plant fresh produce in a food desert community.
From all of us at Flat World Partners, have a happy holiday!
Courtney Lang, Investment Analyst
Flashfood, a Toronto startup, has partnered with U.S. grocery stores to reduce food waste. The app will allow consumers to buy food near its expiration date at a discount from grocery stores.
Binge watch food documentaries this weekend. We recommend Cowspiracy and Just Eat It.
If you haven’t started cooking yet, read the Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook by Dana Gunders, a leading scientist at the NRDC, for Thanksgiving recipe ideas.
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