Wasted food is a wasted opportunity to feed the hungry, slow down climate change, improve our economy and so much more. In fact, all the food wasted by Americans is a wasted opportunity to use the resources of this land to the best of our ability, for all Americans and by extension, the entire world.
That’s my take after watching John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight episode that delves into our foolish ways with food. [Video below.] Other observations:
A quarter of all food bought in America goes uneaten.
Because we’re “slaves to the Almighty expiration date,” which turns out to be meaningless, misunderstood and misinterpreted. (What an almighty surprise!)
On top of that, capitalism catapults us into buying and selling only the prettiest of fruits and vegetables.
The result: countless tons of “perfectly edible but deemed less aesthetically pleasing” American produce being valued as worthless, so much so, it’s cheaper for growers to discard that produce, letting it rot on the ground, or throwing it away, rather than allowing that product of America to become a more useful source of nourishment and enrichment for all Americans.
Wait, are we talking about pretty fruits or pretty Americans? LOL
Golden apples and bananas all must — as slightly-less-aesthetically-pleasing-and-golden apples and bananas — return to dust. But while living in America, you’ve got to be a golden white apple — or the equivalent — to be the apple of the this country’s eye.
What a waste.
Randy Boyd author 