Last night I watched an excellent programme on BBC1 about the amount of food that is wasted in the home, the supermarket and on the farm. The four chefs who were a little sceptical at first about redeeming food that had been thrown out for various reasons, such as reaching the 'sell by date' or the fact that it didn't look very 'pretty', did a superb job of creating a banquet solely from food that would normally have been wasted.
I have never been able to understand why the supermarkets dictate to food producers that everything must be a certain size, shape or colour and anything that does not conform is not acceptable. We are all quite different from one another so why should lettuces for example, all be identical and what is wrong with a tomato or an apple with a small blemish? As for little eggs laid by young hens, they have absolutely nothing wrong with them and I am sure people would buy them if they had the opportunity.
In this day and age it is crazy to be throwing away good food, we might as well throw away money. If we were able to buy the food that is currently being discarded for whatever reason we could all save a considerable amount of money on food bills every year. Living on my own, I for one would love to be able to buy some of the small fish that the fishermen caught last night but said nobody wanted. The trouble is, we are not given the chance because sadly, the fishmongers and supermarkets want us to buy the expnsive stuff. On the continent, especially around the Mediterranean, the housewives buy all the little fish from the fishing boats and they make the most wonderful fish stews as well.
Most of the problem in this country is that a lot of women will tell you that they don't have the time to cook because they work, when the real truth is that they don't have a clue how to cook, especially the cheaper cuts of meat or offal. I would bet my pension that any Asian family living in this country does not go out to a takeaway for an Indian or Chinese meal because they all make their own and most of them have large families too.
We have to put our food waste in a special bin which is collected every week, but the only things that go into mine are eggshells, apple cores, onion peelings and the occasional chicken bone. Most of my vegetable trimmings go to the lad round the corner for his guinea pigs and everything else is eaten!
I'm not going to have to come and bail you out because you've been caught rummaging in skips after a dried up bit of bread am I?? We don't have much waste as three furry friends eat the leftovers, and I totally agree people should not expect uniform veg. Long live bent cucumbers!
ReplyDeleteNo you won't find my bum sticking out of a skip and I bake my own bread anyway! I know what goes into it then.
ReplyDeleteAs for wierd shapes of fruit and vegetables, I believe the European Parliament have written a twenty thousand page tome on what shapes and sizes of fruits and vegetables are acceptable but I think someone should burn that together with the blighters that dreamed it up!