Author Archives: Jonathan

Produce Name Game

Alphabet produce, my favorite pet topic, reared its curvy little head this weekend. Normally, I post pics of fruits and veggies that resemble a letter or number. On Saturday, though, I found three such oddities. And in an amazing bit of Scrabble karma, they just happened to be the letters that spell my name: I […]

September 2, 2014 | Posted in Alphabet Produce, Farmers' Market | Comments closed

Schooling Waste

Seeing the USDA involved in fighting food waste is encouraging. Especially when it’s in the realm of school lunch. That’s why I found this blog post on solutions to school food waste and the corresponding infographic (see below) such a pleasant surprise. The post counters the popular misconception that schools are required to trash all student […]

August 28, 2014 | Posted in Food Recovery, School | Comments closed

Who Says Schools Have to Waste Food?!

I was talking about food waste on Minnesota Public Radio today and many of the callers were school or day care workers lamenting their facility’s level of food waste. Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking a lot about that topic lately. Then Indiana’s Food Rescue org sent me this inspiring video of a school objecting to throwing away […]

August 20, 2014 | Posted in Food Recovery, School | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Scary data point of the day: in India, 40 percent of the food by value does not reach consumers. And yes, this is a nation where 47 percent of children are underweight. — — If all eyes are on Boston, they will be so for a while! The (commercial) food waste landfill ban doesn’t kick in until […]

August 15, 2014 | Posted in Anaerobic Digestion, Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, International, Waste Ban | Comments closed

Pay It (Food) Forward

You know what’s hard to argue against? Rescuing food doomed for the landfill and redistributing it to those in need. Doing that with healthy produce is even more unassailable. Food Forward specializes in the latter, recovering fruit and veggies from backyard trees, farmers’ markets and wholesalers in the Los Angeles area. The group, around since […]

July 29, 2014 | Posted in Food Recovery, Tree Gleaning | Comments closed

Bien fait, Intermarché

I may be the last to write about the brilliant Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables campaign from French supermarket chain Intermarché, but I want to say that it’s the best initiative on food waste I’ve seen from one company. Selling ugly (moches) fruits and vegetables at a 30% discount after raising awareness with a line of […]

July 25, 2014 | Posted in Campaigns, International, Supermarket | Comments closed

Visualizing UK Waste

Here’s a neat infographic on food waste in Britain, courtesy of Rangemaster. One of the more telling details: 86 million chickens are wasted every year in the UK. What the cluck?! Another effective part of the infographic is the Wembley Stadium indicator. But it’s worth noting: UK food waste would fill that stadium 8 times […]

July 17, 2014 | Posted in Infographic, International, Stats | Comments closed

Kids Collar Collards

I rarely find the time to glean, but it’s always a pleasurable, grounding experience. This week, I had that opportunity as I helped supervise a group of 15 campers (from a community service camp!) glean collard greens. As you can see, we did our best in filling the available delivery vehicles, including my hatchback and […]

July 11, 2014 | Posted in Farm, Food Recovery, Gleaning | Comments closed

In Brazil

Bom dia! Quick programming note: I won’t be posting for the next few weeks, as I’m in Brazil for the World Cup. I’m also doing a bit of research on food waste and the culinary culture here, so hopefully I’ll have some interesting nuggets to share soonish. In the meantime, I hope you’re enjoying the […]

June 20, 2014 | Posted in General | Comments closed

Y is for ‘Yes, Kale Can Look Like That!’

Today, when I was picking greens for dinner, I found another entry for the burgeoning Alphabet Produce series: this Kale Y. I’ve never seen a leafy green have a fork in its own road, but I was glad to see this one. This kale leaf not only checks the ‘Y’ box, it reminds us that real […]

June 11, 2014 | Posted in Alphabet Produce, Household | Comments closed