FOOD WASTE
Have you ever thought about how much food has been wasted in the whole US annually? More than enough food has been wasted in the US. It is said that the US has been the number one country that wastes the most food. Today is now known as a “throw away society.” Even if it is known as a throw away some people today don’t even throw a single piece of food away. They don’t just do that to save money, but to not waste food. From all this I agree that US has been keeping it a secret that we have wasted over more than half of our food that could have been helpful for the more poor in the US and in other countries.
Have you ever thought about how much food has been wasted in the whole US annually? More than enough food has been wasted in the US. It is said that the US has been the number one country that wastes the most food. Today is now known as a “throw away society.” Even if it is known as a throw away some people today don’t even throw a single piece of food away. They don’t just do that to save money, but to not waste food. From all this I agree that US has been keeping it a secret that we have wasted over more than half of our food that could have been helpful for the more poor in the US and in other countries.
Why do people buy food that they know will never be eaten and left in the back of the fridge to rot? It is said that households waste up to 43 billion dollars each year, which not only is wasting a lot of food, but a big economic problem. Plus most of the food that goes to waste is harvested food. I think that the government doesn’t tell anyone about this issue, because in my opinion it is becoming a problem. I say this not only because the amount of food that is wasted every day of every year, but it has also become an economical problem. Plus the economic problem is making some people get food from dumpsters. This is true because it is said that some people would get food from dumpsters after restaurants would throw away the food that doesn’t work anymore, such as fruits and vegetables, just so that food won’t go to waste. According to Rustemeyer and Baldwin from “How food waste costs us all”, it says “ We have spent six months eating food from grocery stores and farmers markets that couldn’t be sold, and salvaging discarded edibles from dumpsters.” From this you can see what people like us would do to help not waste that much food. Because then again America is the number one country that wastes the most food. Is this why no one informs us no how much food we have wasted and how it could be a lot useful if other people had this food? Once again all the food that has been wasted all through out the United States can be very useful to other countries like Africa.
If you were to compare how much food the US wastes and how much food Canada wastes there would be little significance. However, if you were to compare the US and Africa, there would be a huge gap between these two countries. It is said that in Africa food wastage is extremely rare. In African countries consumers don’t throw anything away, not even if the food is rotten, for them it still works. I say this because according to the afroline.org it states, “ In many African countries, consumers do not throw away anything, not even the rotten food.” From this you can see that they are very careful when it comes to dealing with food because they hardly ever waste any. Even if it is hard to believe, sometimes people waste food on Africa, due to the fact that it didn’t harvest well. Either way this will change, according to the FAO they will set a group of people to address to the plants that aren’t harvested well. If in Africa it is such a huge problem if less than 25% of their food is wasted imagine if they were to be in the US. Because of this, and because the US has wasted so much food that could be a lot helpful to other people in need, is the reason it has been kept secret from all of us.
This situation of food waste also parallels to the food that is also wasted in the book “ Catching Fire.” Not only does it parallel to the food waste issue, but it also parallels to the fact that the food that has been wasted can be useful for other people. I say that because according to Suzanne Collins, on page 78 it says, “ After about ten tables I’m stuffed.” This only shows that Katniss has been eating a lot of food. Still, on page 79 of Suzanne Collins book it also states, “ You mean this will make me puke? My prep team laughs hysterically. Of course, so you could keep eating.” From this you can see that the people from the Capitol would drink a clear liquid that makes them puke so they could keep eating. This shows that they waste food because after drinking that all the food that they had eaten has flooded out of their stomachs. Then again as I said all that food that they have wasted could go to the people that need the food, not like them. According the Suzanne Collins, on page 80 it states, “All I can think of is the emaciated bodies of the children on our kitchen table as my mother prescribes what their parents can’t give. More food. There was nothing to give and the child was past saving, anyway. And here in the Capitol they’re vomiting for the pleasure of filling their bellies again and again.” This shows that in this book there are also people that could use the food that others don’t eat and end up not eating and throwing it away. The point is, that there is all kinds of issues that have to deal with food wasting that people aren’t aware of. That is why, like Katniss, like Jonas we have to become aware of things that others don’t pay attention to.
All in all, I am agreeing to the purpose that the US has been keeping a secret that we have thrown away more than enough food that could have been a lot helpful to other countries. Plus now the US is referred to a “throw away society.” Some people would even go into dumpsters to salvage the food that restaurants throw away. I think that all this food could be helpful to other countries like Africa. I say this because Africa doesn’t really throw away any of their food, not even if it has already gone to waste. All this of wasting food comes to paralleling to the book “ Catching Fire.” This is true because Katniss becomes aware when she notices that the people in the Capitol would throw up to eat again. Once again all of this is referred to the fact that the US is the number one country that wastes the most food. Due to all of this and many more is the reason why people are keeping it a secret of the food-wasting problem.
Work Cited Half of US Food Goes to Waste." FoodProductionDaily.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
"Pay Day." Yahoo Finance. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
"Afronline – The Voice Of Africa." Afronline The Voice Of Africa RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
"Pay Day." Yahoo Finance. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
"Afronline – The Voice Of Africa." Afronline The Voice Of Africa RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.