The great British food debate
Britons are having a nationwide debate about reducing food waste in an effort to reduce energy use. Gordon Brown the Prime Minister is using a cabinet report that shows the UK throws away an annual 4.1m tonnes of edible goods, the equivalent of £420 for every home, to call for Britons to waste less food.
Meanwhile, and I’m not a big fan of the politics of envy but this was too ironic to pass by, Brown and his G8 peers will be settling themselves down to an eight-course, 19-dish dinner prepared by 25 chefs:
After discussing famine in Africa, the peckish politicians and five spouses took on four bite-sized amuse-bouche to tickle their palates. The price of staple foods may be soaring, but thankfully caviar and sea urchin are within the purchasing power of leaders and their taxpayers - the amuse-bouche featured corn stuffed with caviar, smoked salmon and sea urchin, hot onion tart and winter lily bulb.
Meanwhile returning to the real debate The Guardian notes bruskly:
To suggest that the average householder is to blame for our colossal national wastage is to ignore the way that the food industry has been allowed to develop in this country, from the relentless rise of the supermarket to the flourishing of the fast-food outlet, the decline in farming and the death of the local shop. All of these affect why we buy the wrong things, and why we buy so much of what we do not need.
However it eventually gets into the spirit of things with a list 20 ways to reduce food waste, starting with Number 1 - Avoid the supermarket
“Supermarkets are very expensive places to shop,” says Joanna Blythman, author of Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets. “The idea of the one-stop shop encourages you to buy more than you need.” If you do have to go to a supermarket, make a list of what you need beforehand, and stick to it rigorously - but do check that these are groceries you genuinely need, and not items you have just got into the habit of buying.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Internet shopping from a supermakert can avoid many of these supermarket pitfalls. You can pick just what you want, compare prices easily with a calculator on hand and most importantly you’ve got your list on hand and you avoid running into all that stuff you don’t really want.
The severe downside is that it can be impossible to get details on products. Checking if a product is, for example, certified GE free, or if eggs have SPCA approvals, or reading the ingredients list on a packet becomes impossible. Better scanning of packages, instead of their crappy photos, would really help there.
None of which changes the fact that when the wife and kids are sick and it’s really hard to get out of the house, a one-stop shop that delivers to the door is fantastic.
July 9th, 2008 at 7:31 am
“Number 1 - Avoid the supermarket”
Been saying that for a while. The power lies in our feet!
July 9th, 2008 at 9:46 am
“I’m not a big fan of the politics of envy”
What has this got to do with envy? Isn’t it about hypocrisy?
July 9th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Another tip is to shop on a full stomach.
But I do not advise this if you are going to the liquor store.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Sam Buchanan, what I meant was that, in the greater scheme of things, there is no real point worrying about what 13 people have for dinner at a conference one night. Them not ordering or eating that dinner will do nothing for global food shortages. That said though it does send the wrong, and yes, very hypocritical, signal to the rest of the world.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:57 am
>>Another tip is to shop on a full stomach.
So so true.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Add up the time, the fuel, the hassle, the un-necessary items bought, and it may be far better to support your local dairy, corner shop, or market. Re-localise is one answer. Bulk buying of non-perishable items, and growing whatever veg we can, is paying handsome dividends for us too.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
“there is no real point worrying about what 13 people have for dinner at a conference one night. ”
What is worrying is that these 13 people, and their friends, colleagues and other members of the ruling class, see what they are doing as normal, acceptable behaviour, and more, that this is behaviour to be emulated and aspired to by the rest of us.
July 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
corn stuffed with caviar?! do they mean a teeny bit of caviar inside a kernel of corn or what?
anyway this doesn’t bother me, a certain amount of ceremony & class is expected at the state level.