Monthly Archives: October 2008

Friday Buffet

I enjoyed peeking into these food leaders’ fridges. Given the sparsity in most of them, I doubt there’d be much food wasted. For more voyeurism, check out Other People’s Pantries, a recurring feature on The Perfect Pantry blog. — — (With apologies to Shakespeare)          Get thee to a wormery! — — It’s not every day that you […]

October 17, 2008 | Posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, Household, Restaurant | Comments closed

A Different Dollar Menu

In the One Dollar Diet Project, two high school teachers ate on a dollar a day (each) for a month. (Insert your own joke about teachers’ salaries here.) Christopher and Kerri spent the month of September scrimping to stretch their food dollar (read their rules here) with this goal: We are interested in many of […]

October 16, 2008 | Posted in Household, Hunger | Comments closed

The ABCs of CSA Excess

In addition to having the coolest environmentalist handle going, Slate’s Green Lantern doesn’t duck the tough questions. Such as: ‘My CSA gives me more food than I can eat…is that bad?‘ In a thorough answer, The Lantern (a.k.a. Jacob Leibenluft) weighs the pros and cons of food waste stemming from bountiful community-supported agriculture (CSA) boxes. […]

October 15, 2008 | Posted in Farm, Household | Comments closed

Editorializing

As the leaves fall and the political temperature rises, I’d like to talk politics for a minute. (Cue the soaring eagle graphic.) In last week’s debate, Barack Obama and John McCain both whiffed in their respective responses to the question of what sacrifices they would ask Americans to make. In short, neither would impose on […]

October 14, 2008 | Posted in History and Culture | Comments closed

Food Fights

Whoa. I picked up the Sunday Times Magazine yesterday and was shocked to find this photo of food being wasted (and I mean wasted!): First, it’s an impressive photograph. It’s striking art, for sure. But given that the Food Issue discusses how we should (re)value food, the photo on its cover has the wrong tone. […]

October 13, 2008 | Posted in History and Culture | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Sometimes the best intentions–as in bringing food to those who’ve recently lost a loved one–can lead to waste. An interesting look at a specific instance of culturally-driven food waste. — — America’s Second Harvest is having a tough time. That’s not good news, as food banks are going to have more and more customers as the […]

October 10, 2008 | Posted in Friday Buffet, History and Culture, Household | Comments closed

Restaurants’ Green Seal of Approval

I’ve long hoped for some sort of green standard for restaurants. Some kind of sticker that eateries could display on their door to let people know that they’re doing the right thing, environmentally. Kind of the like the organic label used to do does with food products. Well, Green Seal is doing just that. The […]

October 9, 2008 | Posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

Tasty Tips

If you’re like me, you can never get enough tips on how to make food last longer. The excellent Love Food, Hate Waste (LFHW) site has a whole bunch of helpful hints, from food prep to storage. I make periodic visits to LFHW, as the British site constantly receives user-submitted tips. My favorites are the […]

October 8, 2008 | Posted in Household, Storage | Comments closed

Compost Happens: The Brian Rosa Q & A

One of my pet peeves is the idea that “green consumerism” alone will reverse our environmental woes. More than just “buying green,” real change will require behavioral shifts small and large. Fortunately, composting is a relatively easy change. Chances are, you already separate your food scraps from your other waste. Composting merely requires that you […]

October 7, 2008 | Posted in Composting, General, Q & A | Comments closed

Dispose All?

Many of you have written in to ask about a common household appliance: garbage disposals. Specifically, do disposals provide a positive solution for the inevitable household food waste? Recently, Slate‘s Green Lantern examined whether it’s better to put food waste in the trash or zap it with your power ring a garbage disposal. For those […]

October 6, 2008 | Posted in Household, Waste Stream | Comments closed