There’s a beer called “Toast.” The documentary “Wasted!” quips, “It’s the best thing since sliced bread.” People throw away tons of bread: old bread, undesired crusts. About one slice of bread goes into each bottle of “Toast” beer. Bonus: food waste from the brewing process gets channeled to hungry pigs.
At a Yoplait yogurt factory, two thirds of the food inputs end up in the waste stream, except, no. A closed system loop diverts what would be waste into energy that fuels the factory. Tons of cost productive foodstuff helps reconceive energy usage.
Someone cooks you a dish. “Mmm, delicious you say.” How, culturally, can we transform the psychological “yuch” factor of finding out you just ate cauliflower stems or beef tongue or pork uterus? Tons of edible food gets thrown out.
Changing behavior is tricky whether it’s individuals or a grand scale. The concept, however, is quite straightforward. Instead of wasting 40% (FORTY PERCENT!) of all food produced, feed hungry people or at least feed animals. Don’t send food to landfills. Channel food into energy production or to the wonders of compost. Don’t send food to landfills, which not incidentally produces menacing methane.
Doing something about food waste fits in people’s brains easier than shutting down the fossil fuel industry. The film “Wasted!” spends most of its screen time sweeping through myriad, existing ways we can waste way less.
Anthony Bourdain narrates “Wasted!” with appearances by several other celebrity chefs. Bourdain says he’s “old school.” Use everything. Abhor waste. Enjoy the smug satisfaction of caring to do the right thing.