“There are people in the world starving, you know?”
It’s the standard phrase children hear when they are not eating their greens for dinner. If that doesn’t work, the warning that there will be no dessert usually does the trick. When we use the word “world” we think of people outside of Australia, people that we are never likely to meet, however starvation is just as common in our own backyard.
Ronni Kahn, founder of well known food rescue organisation OzHarvest, was recently interviewed on ABC’s One Plus One quoting that a third of food in Australia goes to waste, while 2-3 million Australians suffer from lack of food on a daily basis. Her latest documentary Food Fighter shows Ronni, beautifully dressed with matching accessories, dumpster diving and discovering concerning amounts of waste. Maybe this should become the new date night trend – get dressed up to scavenger hunt for leftovers that can still be eaten.
Most date nights today probably revolve around ordering in with takeaway delivery apps like Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Menulog which are some of the leading causes for food waste. I’ll admit I use these apps sometimes to get out of eating nutritious produce that is already available in my fridge. Instead I turn to my digital fridge that fits comfortably in the palm of my hand, and with a swipe here and a tap there it magically cooks a meal for me.
Ronni’s next challenge is to prevent unconsumed, unopened yoghurts from flights ending up in the bin. The idea that yoghurt should not be consumed after being left out at room temperature leads airlines to throw them out when, as Ronni pointed out in One Plus One, we don’t get rid of yoghurt that we buy in the supermarket and leave at room temperature in our cars on the way home, to only then be put back in the fridge to chill.
I would like to think that I don’t contribute much food waste, however when I get to the end of the week I find myself thinking that I should be rewarding myself with takeout. This is when I generally discover one of my least favourite vegetables in the fridge, taking its last breath, and I have to build the motivation to cook a meal where I can use it up somehow. It gets me thinking about compost bins in the CBD – they’re not as common in concrete jungles as they are in the suburbs, and is another option for us to consider.
Ronni reflects on One Plus One how far OzHarvest has come:
I get overwhelmed not just that I’ve been so blessed to be able to facilitate, bring to life something that has made a difference… it’s precious. I still feel like I’ve got so much more to do… I see vans running around, yellow vans, I see people in yellow t-shirts and I just think, “Wow! How amazing!”
OzHarvest has now launched their Fight Food Waste campaign, which includes simple everyday tips we can use to reduce our shopping and waste.
So, what are you having for dinner tonight?
A Slice of Cheesecake 