Monthly Archives: July 2009

Friday Buffet

For those wondering what life is like at Food Banks these days, watch this engrossing video from the NY Times. “The food bank opens at 4 p.m. every Thursday, but the line outside begins to form as early as noon.” Increased demand has made it challenging for food banks to feed all of those in need. One […]

July 30, 2009 | Posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, History and Culture | Comments closed

Some Summer Inspiration

For those of you wondering how else you can reduce the amount of food waste we create outside the home, here’s an idea (and a nice read): start an end-of-the-day farmers’ market produce collection. Margaret Gifford of Chapel Hill, N.C., has done that to great effect, with her Carrboro Farmers’ Market Farmer Foodshare. Many farmers’ markets have such […]

July 29, 2009 | Posted in Farmers' Market, Food Recovery | Comments closed

When Life Gives You Green Tomatoes…

I’ve been growing some veggies in raised beds in our backyard. As with most gardens, there have been hits and misses. Among the misses, thus far, have been the tomatoes. Thanks to the elaborate bamboo (quasi-native to my backyard, unfortunately) support structure, the plants are taller than me. Yet, I’m still waiting for my first […]

July 27, 2009 | Posted in Household, Personal | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

I’ve written about vacation rental food waste recovery (mouthful!) before, but here’s a recent news report on it (with video). This is one of my favorite ideas, as it allows families who’ve rented homes for a beach getaway to donate their vacation groceries before they leave town. — — Atta boy, Texas! — — From a review of […]

July 24, 2009 | Posted in Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, Hunger, Restaurant, Tree Gleaning | Comments closed

The National School Waste Program

Here’s an interesting piece on waste in the National School Lunch Program. I’ve discussed school food waste before, but I find all stories on the topic fascinating. The attention grabber is that tax payer dollars are being thrown out. Does that make it worse than when kids throw out their parents’ (also tax payers) money by tossing their veggies […]

July 22, 2009 | Posted in History and Culture, Hunger, School | Comments closed

Guest Post: Observations on Food Waste in China

Nathalie Lussier, the Raw Foods Witch, recently returned from a four-month trip to China. I was excited when she contacted me about sharing some of her observations on food waste in the most populous nation. Here’s her report: The “Finish Your Food Guilt” Trip There’s a wonderful, ironic comic strip by Mike Adams that really illustrates […]

July 20, 2009 | Posted in Guest Posts, International | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

The food waste book market is ‘hotting up.’ A book called Waste is now out in the UK. I’m excited about it and hope to get my hands on a copy soon. — — California’s East Bay MUD is the first wastewater treatment plant in the U.S. to turn post-consumer food waste into energy via […]

July 17, 2009 | Posted in Composting, Energy, Friday Buffet, Household, International | Comments closed

Junk Food?

Starting last week, Binghamton has a new, ahem, venue for preparing and serving free lunches: a dumpster. No, it’s doesn’t involve dumpster diving. Nor does it even resemble a dumpster. To be more descriptive, it’s a converted, nicely-appointed dumpster with recycled kitchen equipment. Waste Management cleaned up the bin (it was apparently sitting unused) and installed the used cooking gear. Every Friday […]

July 15, 2009 | Posted in Food Recovery, Hunger | Comments closed

Free Fallen Fruit

Among the originators of tree gleaning, L.A.’s Fallen Fruit have a different way of going about it. They bill themselves as an “activist art project.” The group started by mapping and gathering public fruit, “which is what we call all fruit on or overhanging public spaces such as sidewalks, streets or parking lots.” They now have a […]

July 13, 2009 | Posted in History and Culture, Tree Gleaning | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

In fruit recovery news…Concord, California’s Lemon Lady got some good press. The Times had a solid piece on tree gleaning last month. And I just found out about Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle, which specializes in tree fruit and whose site features a neat map of fruit trees gleaned. — — Ahh…Sweden. Each apartment in […]

July 10, 2009 | Posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, Household, International, School | Comments closed