The Food Network's The Big Waste

[Obwon]

The Food Network's The Big Waste

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/big-waste

Posted: 16 Jan 2012 03:00 PM PST

Credit: Food Network Humor

http://foodnetworkhumor.com/2012/01/the-big-waste/#more-8876

I am a big foodie. My husband and I will spend weekends
planning meals, research restaurants we want to try,
organize vacations around types of food we want to have,
know chefs by face like celebrities (yes, we're dorks). I'm
trying to raise our kids not only with an open mind to try
new foods but to be very conscious of the foods they're
eating. Ironically, it was the satire site "Food Network
Humor"

http://foodnetworkhumor.com/

that called my attention to a show that to my knowledge, got
very little advertising, even on its own network.

http://foodnetworkhumor.com/2012/01/the-big-waste/#more-8876

But this show has raised my consciousness to another area of
food and hunger that we all must be more cognizant: waste.

The theme of the show The Big Waste was to ask two sets of
Food Network chefs to prepare a meal with ingredients that
were considered waste.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food-network-specials/the-big-waste/index.html

I'm not talking about green bologna sandwiches. Even these
chefs, with decades of experience in the restaurant
industry, were genuinely shocked by the sheer volume of
perfectly good foods that are thrown away daily.

http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2012/01/09/the-big-waste-food-network-looks-at-food-waste-in-america/

In an age where one in four children go to bed hungry,

http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2012/01/09/the-big-waste-food-network-looks-at-food-waste-in-america/

it's hard not to be shocked at the routine waste that could
answer so many needs.

http://www.nolanchart.com/article9255-the-big-waste-and-food-network.html

Enormous food waste is the result of the old way of thinking
about the agricultural economic model.

When food prices fall below expectations or are driven
lower by “Big Ag”, small farmers see themselves as having no
choice but to waste tons of perfectly good food because the
cost of bringing that food to market would generate an
economic loss.
As seen on "The Big Waste", grocery stores routinely
throw away tons of perfectly good produce and meats due to
small imperfections in appearance. Some store chains such as
Whole Foods takes some of this excess product and gives it
to local food pantries, but most of it ends up in landfills
and compost heaps.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/bag-hunger/

Many distributors of food products routinely waste
hundreds of tons of food product as a means of price control
and profit protection. When these distributors find
themselves with excess product with a low shelf life, they
would prefer to throw it in the garbage than to sell it at a
discount in order to protect the original price of the
product.

One of the segments of The Big Waste involved chef Bobby
Flay going to a pick-your-own farm and discovering that
waste accounts for 40-50% of the crops, because too often,
customers will cut produce and then see some small
imperfection, or a better/larger example of the produce and
toss the rejected produce back on the ground. A small
grocery in NYC acknowledged that they routinely throw out
around eighty pounds of produce daily because they know
customers won't select the produce with cosmetic
imperfections, broken stems, etc. Eggs are thrown away
because of discoloring on the shells, or that they're too
large or small for egg containers. Whole chickens are
discarded because the skin breaks or bones are broken during
the butchering process. All told, some 27 million tons of
perfectly edible food is thrown away every year.

I've searched through the Food Network site in vain to find
when the show will re-air. Unfortunately and quite
inexplicably, Food Network is not promoting this show at
all. I can't find clips on Hulu or YouTube either. But
please, if you want an eye-opening experience, find this
show. And the next time you're in the grocery store, don't
be afraid of a little blemish. If more people paid less
attention to cosmetic appearances and more to nutritional
content, it would be better for all. CookingMatters offers
ten additional tips to help individuals waste less food.

http://cookingmatters.org/top-10-tips-to-waste-less-food/