Tag Archives: imperfect foods

Like a Tree

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Before taking this course, the idea of a structured time to practice meditation ‘in’ the classroom was not something that I had experienced before. As I learned more about the history and uses of contemplative practices, the image of a tree was common in describing its structure. This image had a profound effect on me as it illustrated and enhanced the benefit of these practices and just how multi-faceted it is. Like a tree, we are ever growing and are grounded in our core ideals and beliefs. The role of the contemplative practices allows us to further grow our tree and trim it in places or take it in a different direction – one that is built out of a changed and fuller frame of mind.

Image Source: http://www.artchangeseverything.org/2016/09/the-tree-of-contemplative-practices_3.html

The contemplative practice that has stood out the most to me is the one on feeling hunger. This practice further illuminated the privilege that I hold in my relationship with food and the ability to consume and benefit from food on my own terms. As we have learned, the current food system is made up with the goal of making money, not food. And even though we have the food necessary to feed the population of the world, this is not happening in part due to aesthetic standards and amount of food required to feed livestock. An article from the Guardian illustrates the relationship between changing our diets and the ability to be able to more greatly feed and serve the whole population of the planet. When addressing your own hunger, it is becoming pivotal to understand how you are filling it and the impact that it has on the environment and fellow inhabitants of the world. While a massive structured change is necessary, knowing your role in the food system will help change it.

Tons of Hungry People and Tons of Wasted Food

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It is the age of a global pandemic and for many Americans, it is a time of heightened economic vulnerability. The services of food banks are in increasing demand from both old and new customers as food insecurity explodes as unemployment skyrockets amid the COVID-19 crisis. At the same time, experts predict that we will be seeing a stark increase in our already high levels of food waste. In a good year, America would see 40 percent of its food wasted – 63 million tons. 

Source: Getty Images

This is not a good year. This is a year of panic buying and closed down markets and cafeterias, meaning that we can expect to see more than 40 percent of our food go to waste. The interconnected problems of food insecurity and food waste are certainly not new, but with the rise of COVID-19 they have gained higher visibility and have more far reaching impacts than ever before. 

Food waste management stretches from farm to table. With farmers leaving up to half of their crops unharvested due to cosmetic imperfections and American households representing the largest source of food wasted, food and money are lost at every step of the food system. While it may be tempting to think that our individual choices about how we consume don’t matter within the larger food system, it is this type of thinking that yields high volumes of food rotting in refrigerators and leaves misshapen foods in grocery stores to go to waste.

By changing our individual behaviors, we can dramatically decrease the waste we contribute and thereby improve the food system. And instead of allowing imperfect foods to go to waste on farms, we should be supporting infrastructure that enables these foods to be transported to food banks. If we make change now, we will save lives.