Wasted Food — Jonathan Bloom on food waste and how it can be avoided

Author: Jonathan

  • Food Waste Stump Speech

    —

    by

    Jonathan
    in

    I’ve always loved traveling to colleges and conferences to speak on the impact and opportunity of wasted food. There’s something special about meeting new folks, bringing together interested people and groups, making eye contact on a key point, and, occasionally, hearing a chuckle on a joke. The pandemic squashed that. Like we’ve all done, though,…

  • Dumpster, Guarded

    —

    by

    Jonathan
    in

    When 12 police officers are guarding a food-laden Dumpster, it’s worth reassessing the chain of events. Here goes: Portland store loses power due to snow and ice storm. Store throws away lots of food. Word spreads in city where 300,000 lack power. People come to grab food from dumpster. Store employees prevent dumpster diving and…

  • Chatting on Food Waste Day

    —

    by

    Jonathan
    in , , , , ,

    And you thought September 29 was just National (U.S.) Coffee Day! The UN declared this day to in fact be International Day of Awareness for Food Loss and Waste. Who am I to argue? Instead, I joined the UN FAO’s Twitter chat. While I’d appreciate a shorter acronym next time to alleviate the Twitter character…

  • Food Matters!

    —

    by

    Jonathan
    in ,

    For years, I’ve been saying that we need to teach kids that food isn’t trash. That food isn’t just like any other commodity in our throw-away culture. That food is special. That food…matters! I’m thrilled to say that there’s now a great resource to teach that message. This past year, I’ve helped create an amazing…

  • Minneaturizing School Food Waste

    —

    by

    Jonathan
    in

    Minneapolis Public Schools are a national leader in food service. MPS has renovated nearly half of school kitchens and pledged to bring on-site cooking to all schools by 2025. It serves food without high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, artificial colors, or preservatives. Yet, MPS hasn’t focused much on tackling wasted food. Until now. MPS Director…

  • State of the Food Waste Union

    —

    by

    Jonathan
    in

    Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to report that the state of our Food Waste Union is strong! I’m not really sure whether that conveys that we’re wasting a lot of food or making progress on the issue, but, oddly, both are true! The occasion of the actual State of the Union address provides the perfect…

  • Learning from ‘Lo Spreco’

    —

    by

    Jonathan
    in , , ,

    I recently had the opportunity to help lead a Penn course on sustainability and the food-water-energy nexus, with an emphasis on food waste. The bulk of the course consisted of a week-long trip to Italy. Why Italy? First, why ever not? Second, course instructor Steve Finn wanted to explore food waste through the lens of…

  • Wasted Food Dude–Backyard Methane??

    —

    by

    Jonathan
    in , ,

    Here’s the latest installment of my food waste advice column, Dear Wasted Food Dude, which also runs on BioCycle‘s site and their e-bulletin, BioCycle Food Recycling News.  Related: send questions! All food-waste-related queries are welcome–big or small, true or false, named or anonymous. Send stuff to wastedfood {at} gmail or @wastedfood. I bet we could all use a diversion from politics… — Dear Wasted…

  • Wasted Food Dude–Composting Conundrum

    —

    by

    Jonathan
    in , ,

    Here’s the latest installment of my food waste advice column, Dear Wasted Food Dude, which also runs on BioCycle‘s site and their e-bulletin, BioCycle Food Recycling News.  Related: send questions! All food-waste-related queries are welcome–big or small, true or false, named or anonymous. Send stuff to wastedfood {at} gmail or @wastedfood. — Dear Wasted Food Dude, My composting facility takes in food scraps as…

  • Wasted Food Dude–Using Up Dressing

    —

    by

    Jonathan
    in , ,

    Here’s the latest installment of my food waste advice column, Dear Wasted Food Dude, which also runs on BioCycle‘s site and their e-bulletin, BioCycle Food Recycling News.  Related: send questions! All food-waste-related queries are welcome–big or small, true or false, named or anonymous. Send stuff to wastedfood {at} gmail or @wastedfood. — Dear Wasted Food Dude, It seems that we can’t get through more…