Have you heard of Baptiste Dubanchet? I hadn’t until I found an article about him on treehugger.com. He’s a French guy that has decided to ride his bike from Paris to Warsaw, Poland eating only what he can find by dumpster diving, eating local restaurant cast-offs, and what is given to him by strangers. He’s doing it all in an effort to raise global awareness about food waste. The food he’s eating isn’t what you’d think either, it’s perfectly good day old bread, packaged produce, etc.
What a cool idea to bring awareness to the global food waste program. Every year, it’s estimated that we throw 50% of our food away. 50%! That means that all of the water, gas, and resources used to grow the food goes to waste too. Dubanchet, a 25 year old educated in sustainable development, could no longer stand to see the food go to waste, particularly after a trip to South America, South East Asia, and Tahiti, where people do not have access to the over-abundance the 1st world countries do.
He wanted to show that we import food like rice from these countries, thereby driving the prices up for its own people, and then we end up throwing HALF of it away. Dubanchet plans to stop at schools along the way to educate students on the ramifications of food waste. If you are interested in following his journey, you can check out his website. Remember to hit the translate button at the top right of the screen {unless they speak French ;)}
The European Parliament has named 2014 The European Year Against Food Waste. The problem is totally a global one, though, so I think we should get on board. What do you think, have YOU ever eaten anything out of a dumpster {or something destined for the dumpster}? If not, would you?
~Mavis
Photos lafaimdumonde2014.com
Peggy Stenglein says
I have, and I would! So much of what gets thrown away is perfectly fine…well, not ‘perfect’ in a vendors and consumers who demand blemish free and no over ripe produce. And the excess just to keep a store display full! Months ago, I stopped at a Walmart deli in our area to order a jalapeno popper from the hot foods. As I was waiting, the clerk picked up a FULL pan of chicken tenders and threw them in the trash! I commented how terrible it was she had to do that, and she looked at me surprised and said they do that all of the time! Really, what’s the rush to wait 10 minutes for chicken tenders to cook if need be? If you must have them, stop by the counter before you start shopping and then check back to pick up your order! What a waste! I decided then not to visit the hot foods section, that my buying from there only made throwing away perfectly good food acceptable. That was only one pan of chicken from one store, every store does the same thing. Waste!
ChrisM says
I guess growing up in a farming area and in a family with 7 kids, we learned to cut the bad spots off of fruits and veggies! Not that hard. One bruise does not equal rotten fruit. Eons ago, when I worked at McDonalds, we threw away tons of food. Anything leftover from breakfast was tossed (we’re talking bacon. That’s a crime I think!) Biscuits, pancakes, eggs, sandwiches…One time we had a patty melt special. When the date to stop selling them came, we were told to throw out all the supplies for the patty melts. Trays of fresh buns, cases of canned mushrooms, huge packages of Swiss cheese. Needless to say, we all took some home (even though that was against the rules).
Julie Ann says
I have, and would, too! If all the grocery stores weren’t many miles away from my house (and some with surveillance cameras trained on their dumpsters – no lie!), I’d be picking through those bad boys looking for nommish treasures. Especially Safeway!! They won’t donate food for charities or give away their old produce (they told me it was illegal – what a load of BS!). They don’t sell their bruised produce at discounted rates, either (well, neither does Walmart). Basha’s sells a lot of their bruised produce and just-about-to-turn packaged goods at discounted rates. I pay a minimal fee for a 55-gal bag of produce ‘waste’ from them – chicken scraps they call it. I take it home and the whole family cleans and sorts the bag. It’s quite an undertaking!! We ate huge salads for a week and a half solid just from the lettuce ‘waste’ we salvaged. The goats and chickens get what we can’t eat ourselves. And what they shouldn’t eat – the compost then gets a treat, too 🙂
Rachel says
Kroger (and its affiliates) donate food to the local food banks if the food is getting ready to expire. I am sure they still through food out too but it makes me feel good shopping at a place that cares about the community they are part of.
http://www.thekrogerco.com/community/bringing-hope-to-the-table
Kimberly says
Not sure if you have seen it, but there is/was? a documentary called DIVE! on netflix about a group in the US doing this.
Harry says
I’ve been looking at the pics of the food waste for a while now, and the stuff shown in your American dumpsters are basically what gets sold in the shops here in South Africa. We pay good money for what is getting thrown away over there. Her a pack of apples don’t get chucked because one has a bruise. It gets sold like that. A lot if not most of our better produce gets exported, not to mention that there’s a shortage of good fresh produce here anyway.
Jen Y says
I’ve never taken food from a dumpster but I take any leftovers anyone wants to give to me. When I go to events or parties if I see food being tossed at the end of the event I speak up. I take what I can & share if it’s more than I need. I also volunteered at a local food bank for years & legally they were not allowed to give out food in certain conditions: dented cans, past dates, ect. They would let volunteers take those things home if wanted because they would have to be tossed otherwise. I occasionally got produce from there as well – unfortunately many of the clients didn’t want the fresh produce, if you can imagine that! – so we would take things home on Fridays that we knew wouldn’t make it through the weekend. In their defence, some had no way to prepare some foods & many just really didn’t know what to do with it. Very sad.
Another thing I do is through my church. I help plan women’s events & we always contact local ministries like soup kitchens & food banks to come pick up any leftovers so nothing gets tossed. I wish more restaurants would/could do this.
My husband cleans out the fridge in his office almost every Friday. He brings home some really yummy stuff. I often ask him if he’s sure no one wants it & he says I’d be shocked at how much gets tossed.
Have you read The Frugal girl’s Food Waste Friday posts? I love them. I really like that she gives ideas on using up food that’s close to going bad. Here’s a link http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/category/food-waste-friday/
I don’t know her or anything – I’m just a follower of her blog.