Monthly Archives: April 2009

East Bay Energy

Here’s a nice recap of Oakland’s uber-progressive food-waste-to-energy plant. East Bay Municipal Utility District (East Bay MUD) has an anaerobic digestion plant that converts Oakland’s food waste to energy, which it then use to power the West Oakland sewage treatment plant. Cool! I think anaerobic digestion is a sound destination for that inedible food waste […]

April 16, 2009 | Posted in Composting, Energy | Comments closed

Eat me!

I’m not linking to this post out of vanity (honest!) and what follows is not vulgar (get your mind out of the gutter!). In addition to finding The Compact (of not buying anything new except food for a year) admirable, I really enjoyed Angela Barton’s idea of having a section near the front of your […]

April 15, 2009 | Posted in Household | Comments closed

Web-prevented Waste

A Scottish entrepreneur just launched a site that will enable grocers to sell goods approaching their ‘best by’ date to bargain hunting consumers. Unfortunately, I don’t know what the site is called. That’s because this article–in a stunning feat of journalistic incompetence–doesn’t provide the name or URL. While I’m complaining, a second source (on this […]

April 14, 2009 | Posted in International, Supermarket, Technology | Comments closed

Buffet By Request

Sometimes reducing food waste requires a bit of sacrifice. Perhaps it’s planning out your meals before grocery shopping or simply taking stock of the food you throw out (including the stuff that goes down the garbage disposal). For customers at Stevi B’s, an Atlanta-based chain of all-you-can-eat pizza buffets, it means not having the B.L.T. […]

April 13, 2009 | Posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Bon Appetit Management Company, primarily a college food service company, have already reached their year-end carbon reduction goals, including some admirable food waste reduction milestones. Kudos, guys. — — Two opposing Ivy League op-eds: one from the Yale Daily News that’s against waste and one from The Daily Princetonian that only occasionally makes sense. — — […]

April 10, 2009 | Posted in College, Composting, Environment, Friday Buffet, Household, Trayless | Comments closed

Passover and Pantries

It’s Passover, and many Jews observing the holiday will have just cleaned out their chametz (or hametz), the breads, grains and leavened goods. In her fabulous piece on the Well blog, Karen Barrow gives her take on the practice. Or, if anthropomorphic food is more your speed, Mr. Matzah also explains the idea. Whether you’re […]

April 9, 2009 | Posted in History and Culture | Comments closed

Studying Traylessness

I was talking with food psychology guru Brian Wansink yesterday (he of the portion studies involving refilling bowls, different shaped glasses and stale popcorn). Back at Cornell after his USDA stint, Wansink casually dropped the news that he just started a two-part study on trayless dining. My ears perked up as Wansink described how he […]

April 8, 2009 | Posted in Trayless | Comments closed

Portion Distortion

About a year ago, T.G.I. Friday’s launched their “Right Portion, Right Price” menu, which I applauded. Other restaurants are finally following suit. In a rare bit of positive recession news, cheaper, smaller portions are on offer at many chains, including–drum roll, please–The Cheesecake Factory. The purveyor of waste-inducing portions recently started offering smaller plates priced […]

April 7, 2009 | Posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

Serving Waste

While we’ve talked about traylessness for a while, that’s not the only way to reduce college food waste. It appears that whether or not the food is self-serve or dished out by cafeteria staff makes a world of difference. At least it did at East Tennessee State. One dining hall at the Johnson City school […]

April 6, 2009 | Posted in College | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

While we’re all fired up about Seattle, let’s not forget how progressive San Francisco’s composting program is. — — I’m not quite sure what to think when a conscious food squanderer writes about changing her ways. I’m still trying to remain calm after struggling through the first part of her column. — — There’s a new […]

April 3, 2009 | Posted in College, Composting, Friday Buffet, Household, International | Comments closed