Author Archives: Jonathan

Save the Food!

Save the Food! That’s another way of saying don’t waste it. And that sound advice is the slogan behind the new Ad Council/NRDC anti-food waste campaign launching today. This public service campaign has been in the works for a long time, but at first glance, it was worth the wait. The PSAs, produced gratis by whizs at […]

April 20, 2016 | Posted in Campaigns | Comments closed

Me the MISFIT

I’ve done a decent amount of media in my, gulp, 10+ years of writing about food waste. But this Meet the MISFITS feature was among the most fun and introspective interviews I’ve done. The  neat people behind MISFIT Juicery curate these interviews in addition to making beverages out of ‘aesthetically-challenged’ produce. As an interview bonus, I got […]

March 21, 2016 | Posted in Household, Life to Leftovers, Repurposing | Comments closed

Wholly Ugly!

Whole Foods just announced that they will pilot selling cosmetically imperfect fruits and vegetables in several Northern California stores. Well, the retailer didn’t really announce it, USA Today did in a recent article. And then an unnamed Whole Foods spokesperson tentatively confirmed it to NPR. But still, this is both great news and a bit amusing. It’s great […]

March 8, 2016 | Posted in Supermarket | Comments closed

Required Watching: EXPIRED?

The Harvard Food Policy and Law Clinic (FLPC) just released a fabulous short film on date labels called EXPIRED? You can watch it below and don’t miss their stout op-ed in the LA Times. I’m pretty sure you won’t spend a better 5 minutes online today. EXPIRED? is part of a neat companion site with plenty of […]

February 11, 2016 | Posted in Campaigns, Food Safety, Household, Legislation | Comments closed

Weighing In On Campus Food Waste

Ever wondered what the waste looks like from one college cafeteria meal? Wonder no more: Above is the accumulated plate waste from one dinner at Willamette University in Salem, Ore. That school’s chapter of the fabulous Food Recovery Network (FRN) organized the Weigh the Waste event last year along with the school’s caterer, Bon Appétit Management […]

January 21, 2016 | Posted in College, Events, Trayless | Comments closed

Awareness to Action: Rep. Pingree’s Food Recovery Act

Yesterday was a special day in the fight against wasted food. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s introduction of the Food Recovery Act marked a culmination and a commencement. It was a culmination of what I’ll call the wasted food awareness phase. For decades, wasted food was a problem hiding in plain site. Something so obvious, yet unseeable. Yet thanks […]

December 8, 2015 | Posted in Legislation, Personal | Comments closed

Loving the Leftover Sandwich

Thanksgiving dinner is great, but the days following are truly special. Because those few days after Thursday are a real rarity–a time when eating leftovers is not just merely tolerated, but celebrated. And while turkey soup may epitomize the economy of repurposing leftovers, the turkey sandwich rules the leftover roost. In my family, we’ve come […]

November 30, 2015 | Posted in General, Household, Leftovers | Comments closed

Researching the Remains: A Leftovers Q&A with Food Historian Helen Veit

Last month, Michigan State University history professor, Helen Veit, wrote a killer piece for The Atlantic on leftovers. While its title—“An Economic History of Leftovers”—won’t send pulses racing, its contents will. In fact, the piece should be required reading for anyone with a refrigerator. Yes, that means you. As a Tupperware-toting leftover lover, I just had to […]

November 22, 2015 | Posted in History and Culture, Leftovers | Comments closed

Visualizing Global Food Waste XXVI

I do love a good infographic…Feast your eyes on these informative graphics, courtesy of these committed Australian restaurateurs. As you can see, those are some tall, tall waste bins in the Food Losses and Waste Per Capita graph! They represent the poor infrastructure (poor storage, technology, and roads, etc.) throughout much of the developing world […]

November 9, 2015 | Posted in Infographic, Institutional | Comments closed

Imperfect Implications

We all love the fun pictures of produce oddities, epitomized by the  @UglyFruitandVeg feed and sold in the East Bay by Imperfect.  Yet, a new study from Minnesota raises some interesting questions on how increased adoption of  “off-spec” fruits and vegetables might impact farmers’ bottom lines. On the plus side, new markets for produce with slightly […]

November 6, 2015 | Posted in Farm, General, Stats | Comments closed