A Crime in the Commercial Kitchen

So while there is no easy solution to this there is something we can do to help… Minimise how we contribute to the industry’s faults. I’ve got some tips for when you’re eating out and when you’re eating in.

1. Don’t send your food back unless there’s a real issue. If your food will kill you or it’s completely foul then that’s a good reason. Don’t send it back because it doesn’t meet some selfish and deluded “standard” you have.
2. If you can’t eat everything then get it in a “doggy bag” or wrap it up in a napkin. Maybe someone else at your table can eat what is left. Let them! It’s better someone eats it than it finds it’s way to a landfill.
3. Don’t order or cook more than you can eat. If you’re not hungry don’t get a large serving and if you’re one person, don’t cook a recipe that feeds four.
4. Got too much food? Left overs! If you’ve made more than you can eat for dinner then save it for breakfast, for lunch of even dinner the next day! Don’t keep cooking more to eat when there’s something perfectly good right there.
5. Don’t buy something if you’re not going to use it. If you don’t normally have pineapple then why buy a pineapple just to see it rot and be thrown out? Only buy what you know you’re going to use and if you’ve got something extra, take the initiative to use it.

This waste is a problem in our society and you don’t get to turn a blind eye to it any more. Before I was working in a kitchen I had no idea that this went on. Well now I do and I’m sure as hell not going to stay quiet about it. If you’re feeling really proactive then you should also go ahead and lend a hand to your local chapter of Food Not Bombs – Those guys are doing a wonderful thing.

You can not tell me that there is a major food shortage on this planet when ONE boarding school kitchen is throwing away enough food to feed twenty hungry people in a single afternoon. Remember that this is just one kitchen, in one city, in one country. There are a lot of kitchens in our big, wealthy, western countries and I know they’re throwing away food every day as well. There’s a lot of homes doing it too.

Is the world really not producing enough food or are we just being selfish? Are we just turning a blind eye? Most of us don’t see what’s going on behind closed doors but now they’re open and you know. This is not a whacko conspiracy theory this is something real. And something needs to be done about it.

For more on the crimes of our society, read my other articles here.