Chapter 1: This chapter begins in
the Salinas Valley, where the majority of American lettuce is grown. Since companies
can’t risk having a rotten lettuce head in their shipments, workers leave
lettuce in the fields that simply doesn’t feel
right when squeezed. This loss at farms sets the stage for a larger argument
about the food wasted on the way to consumers. Bloom reveals how the long
transport distances and demand for perfection leads to wasted food. I was especially amazed by the seemingly
endless opportunities for food to go bad, whether from a break in
refrigeration, or mishandling by employees and shoppers. He also briefly
mentioned something that had never even occurred to me: drink waste. I’m relieved
to say that I never waste a drop of milk or orange juice—they’re just too yummy
to toss down the drain!
Chapter 2: This is a rather lengthy
section on why food waste matters. Bloom’s argument Is very persuasive because
it is so well-rounded. He talks about everything from the danger of methane
emissions from landfills to the drain on money and resources to the ethics of
food waste. Bloom imparts the situation frankly, commenting, “In a nation with
robotic vacuums and phones that can give us directions, we’re essentially using
a Stone Age solution – digging a hole in the ground and dumping stuff in it –
to handle our waste” (18). Though environmental and financial impacts make up
the bulk of his argument, I was most surprised by the time he dedicated to
religion. Never having belonged to a religion, I was not aware that the sacred texts
books of all the major religions condemn wasting food. This brings up an interesting question: is
wasting food a sin? I wonder if wasting “God’s gifts” while others starve is as
sinful as stealing…
Chapter 3: Though Bloom is serious
when appropriate, he never hesitates to inject some humor into his paragraphs,
for example: “To an outsider, or perhaps a child, it must seem strange that
hunger and food waste can coexist. Frankly, it is strange. Just as it’s odd
that hunger and obesity can reside in the same home – and even the same person.
Welcome to America!” (44). Bloom reveals that although the amount of food we
waste could easily feed all our hungry citizens, the problem is distribution. The
government was involved for barely 3 years
during the Clinton administration, but the majority of efforts have come from
grassroots groups. I was pleasantly surprised by what Bloom calls “Guerrilla
Giving” which involves people leaving leftovers for the homeless and hungry in
urban areas.
Chapter 4: I believe this chapter
contains one of the most important arguments because it reveals why Americans
have lost our appreciation of food. Bloom examines our history of thrift as
well as the origins of our culture of abundance. Along the way, he makes fun of
most Americans’ current detachment from food’s origins and ignorance of basic
food knowledge. Hilariously, “While more Americans know how to make crème
brulée now—and own the silly blowtorch to finish it—fewer would be able to tell
you how to separate cream from milk” (69). Furthermore, Bloom demonstrates
through the prevalence of pre-prepared and fast food that convenience is key in
our culture. About those pre-prepared, crust-less PB&J sandwiches, Bloom
says, “Ignoring the fact that these are ridiculous and possibly a sign of the
apocalypse, they epitomize our obsession with expediency” (76). Still, he
believes that Americans are ingrained with an appreciation of food that has
resulted from our agricultural beginnings to the Great Depression and World War
II rationing. As much as I’d like to share his optimism, I’m not convinced that
frugality is “embedded in our history, and thus, our character” (77). However,
I do agree that “In moving our food ways forward, we can look backward for
inspiration” (84).
Though in this post I stuck with
Bloom’s writing, he did incorporate a lot of outside quotes from academic
sources as well as personal anecdotes from average people.
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