Food Wastage and its Effects

“Eat up all your food! Think of all the people in Africa!!!”

“Don’t waste food! Do you want to grow up to be big and strong?”

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How many times have we heard these words being said by our parents/guardians while we were growing up? Time and time again, we are told not to waste food because food is precious, and rightly so.

From my understanding, humanity has always had and will always have an intimate relationship with their food and its production. Humanity is what it is today thanks to our ingenious ways to domesticate our food. From the humble wheat to the grazing cattle, we have continually increased their “growability” and productivity in a matter of centuries. Only recently have there been advances in increased production through genetic modification (GM). Some success has also been achieved through hybridisation which incorporates the desired traits of both parents.

Food is viewed different depending on where you are geographically and culturally. In most developed nations, food is look at as an expendable good. In the developing country, with its increasing wealth and prosperity, food can be seen as sign of affluence. In poorer/undeveloped countries, food is viewed as a previous commodity that shouldn’t be wasted.

In developed countries, such as the United States of America and Europe, food is thought of as something that is abundant everywhere and easy to come by no matter where you are. If you’re hungry, just walk (or drive) down the street to your nearest grocery or McDonald’s. Supermarkets pile food up high into the sky to give the illusion to its customers that they have an infinite choice of variety and that lacking food should be the last worry in their mind.

In developing countries, food can be used to portray prosperity. In China for example, the wastage of food is considered to be socially advantageous. When a guest is invited for dinner or function, food of such extravagance would to served to ensure that the guest cannot finish his/her meal. If s(he) does, that would imply that the host does not have the financial means to do so. In other words, they “lose face”. In Chinese culture, losing face would probably be the 2^nd worst thing that could happen next to certain death.

And finally in the undeveloped countries, food equates to their continuous survival. Unlike us who are fortunate enough to be born in a relatively easy life, sitting in front of our computer reading this article knowing there’s food a few steps away in the refrigerator, a vast majority of people in undeveloped countries suffers from malnutrition would lead to all kinds of related diseases and social consequences.

Food is indeed a broad topic to cover and so I thought it best to separate it into different parts. This would give you the choice of reading what interests you although I would encourage you to read all of them.

Part 1: The Life Cycle Assessment of Food

Part 2: Global Food Issues

Part 3: What Can We Do About Food Wastage?

From here, we will see how by not wasting what is on our dinner plates, we free our valuable food resources to those who truly needs it.

If there is an opinion that you would like to comment/suggest, please feel free to email me at cosdusocialjustice@gmail.com