These are actual (greenhouse-grown) peppers bought at The Durham Farmer’s Market this past weekend. No photoshopping, I promise.

Despite their shar-pei appearance,  they were delicious. Proving once again that food doesn’t have to look perfect or homogeneous to taste great.

And now–these beauts are ready for their closeups:

First, it was heartening to experience so many intelligent people considering the topic of wasted food. Second, the level of research on the topic in Europe is impressive. And the commitment to reducing waste–as epitomized by the European Commission’s 50% reduction goal by 2020–is equally encouraging.

Now, it’s just a matter of making it happen. Hopefully, with initiatives like my co-panelist Andrea Segre’s Last Minute Market (you can translate the page well in Chrome) and the upcoming European campaign A Year Against Waste (2013), this will happen sooner rather than later.

Ciao!

With the night air approaching freezing in North Carolina, my backyard basil recently began browning. I picked all remaining leaves with some two-year-old help.

Of course–much to my chagrin–I was a little too late for some of the basil…

After harvesting our year’s pine nut crop procuring plenty of pine nuts, the entire process was utterly simple. A little measuring and Cuisinart pulsing later, I had a nice supply of pesto, whose insistence on browning immediately did not endear it to this photographer. But as I say–’taste trumps appearance.’

While this process is second nature for many of you, it was my first experience turning my end-of-garden basil into a usable product. And it underscores the beauty of those old foodways like end-of-garden cooking and canning. While eating food picked that day is fabulous, why let the changing season halt garden-grown eating.

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Food deserts present a real problem these days. This piece addresses the different solutions, from Walmart to urban agriculture to food recovery.

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You want tips on how to avoid waste and (save money)? I’ve got plenty.

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The stats are a bit old, but this video nicely summarizes the food waste problem:

A year ago, I went through a brief training so as to coordinate future gleaning outings.

Yesterday, I got to supervise one such outing–gleaning sweet potatoes, of course (it is North Carolina). The volunteers were mostly a troupe of girl scouts, who got a valuable lesson in where their food comes from and how much of it is regularly wasted.

The arithmetic looked like this: 20 people + 2 hours = 600 lbs. of sweet potatoes recovered (as pictured). While we worked for a little more than two hours, we could have gleaned that field for two weeks and still found more sweet potatoes.

I highly recommend volunteering with a gleaning operation (SOSA is a large one). In my mind, there’s no better way to honor the spirit of Food Day than by rescuing food that would otherwise be plowed under and get it to those in need.

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Exciting News: The NY Times Online reports that The Grocery Manufacturers Association is planning a three-year initiative to reduce the amount of food supermarkets waste. The effort–in conjunction with the Food Marketing Institute–will trim the amount of food we send to landfills, aiding hungry Americans instead.

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Is OPEC turning to food waste for fuel? Not that OPEC, but the Orange Peel Exploitation Company is exploring a technology developed at York University that microwaves food waste to create a fuel.

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Despite what some in Britain claim, the public strongly backs separate food waste collection (according to a recent poll).

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Finally, I’m on my way to Cape May to give a talk at Sunday’s Guess What’s Coming For Dinner event. See you there, perhaps…

Hey there! Come on in–make yourself at home.

Help yourself to a drink and there’s food over there. Just don’t take more than you’ll eat! You know…because it’s a party for a book about…yeah, you know.

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This day is a happy one–celebrating the release of American Wasteland in paperback. Or as I like to call it, $10 book day.

Aside from the new cover, the book’s interior is entirely the same, with one exception: the new appendix of food- and money-saving tips. So that’s not any real reason for celebration.

More than anything, it’s a banner day because I’m thinking of it as the first birthday of American Wasteland. Hopefully, the book’s publishing last fall brought new attention to food waste. I know it took me to some fascinating places.

So with that in mind–have some birthday cake…I’ve cut slices of all sizes because, well, you know…

The book comes out Sept. 1 and, as always, you can preorder…

I learned a fair amount about how restaurants view waste and, hopefully, the warm, professional staff learned a bit about the importance of reducing waste. The restaurant group is already on the right path, as they’re separating and composting scraps, in addition to many other sustainable practices.

In discussions with staff, I realized just how much of a conflict of interest waiters face: ‘upselling,’ or getting to diners to order more than they had planned, financially benefits both waiter and restaurant. Yet, more often than not, it yields waste. One suggested compromise was upselling beverages, not food. Of course, that has other consequences…

I stressed that staff also had a role to play in making doggie bags cool, or at least the norm. Yet that notion seemed to play better in LA than Vegas, where most patrons are out-of-towners, don’t have fridge access, or are going out after eating.

One idea that came up yesterday was intriguing–a restaurant providing repurposing ideas or even recipes on its site to help customers use up leftovers. It certainly can’t hurt!

Thanks to all who attended and to the Batali Bastianich Hospitality Group for hosting me and, true to their name, extending such consistent hospitality.

I’m excited about the opportunity, as it’s a fabulous chance to communicate the importance of waste reduction to some of the culinary elite. And to learn from kitchen staff about the obstacles that they face in trying to reduce waste.

It should be fun, educational and…did I mention that they’ve promised to feed me delicious food? Not to worry–I’ll do my best to prevent waste!