Putting a Face on Waste?

I woke up cold this morning, which means that it’s time to turn on the heat and buy a few pumpkins.

On the latter, I recently received a tweet from Stef at The Cupcake Project asking whether rotting jack-o-lanterns bother me because it’s food going to waste. Great question.

Since I love carving pumpkins and don’t really enjoy eating them (pumpkin cookies and muffins never quite do it for me), this isn’t one of my many pet peeves.

I do roast the seeds from the pumpkins I carve each year. To be honest, though, I don’t usually think of pumpkins as food. I doubt I’m alone there.

Upon further reflection, carving faces into pumpkins doesn’t seem so bad to me because the pumpkin is still valued. The gourd just plays a cultural role instead of a culinary one.

Of course, now that you bring it up, it does seem kind of wasteful. Damn you, Stef!

For those of you annoyed by the idea of not getting the most out of your pumpkin (I may soon fit that description), you can carve it close to Halloween, display it out for a couple of days and then cook with it after Halloween. As long as you live somewhere reasonably cold, the pumpkin should keep for a few days.

If the whole thing really bothers you, don’t carve your pumpkin. An uncarved pumpkin is just as festive–though not as fun–and it’ll stay good much longer. And you can always make a face in other edible things.