The Big Waste

   Food Network is airing a special called The Big Waste this Sunday Jan 8th at 10pm EST. From watching the commercials, my interest is piqued because it seems that they are going to touch upon how much food gets wasted in the US. And this isn't the eat everything on your plate leftovers type waste, this is a mass raw product type waste, wasted from places such as the produce farms and the grocery stores. One statement during the commercial is "We've trained the American consumer to demand perfection" while showing images of piles of food just sitting in a field to rot, hinting at there is nothing wrong with this food besides a few imperfections, but these few imperfections deem the food not worthy for grocery stores and so therefore is just dumped. Another statement from a person who appears to be a produce farmer is "We are almost 40%-50% waste".

Surplus tomatoes are dumped on farmland in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Photograph: Sally A. Morgan/Ecoscene/Corbis¹

    The part of this special that worries me a bit is the fact that this special is also a cooking competition. The premise of the special is two teams, Bobby Flay and Michael Symon against Anne Burrell and Alex Guarnaschelli, each having 48 hours to create a gourmet meal for 100 people only with food they find that is on it's way to the trash. I just hope they don't spend too much time on the competition part, removing focus away from what I think the focal point of the special should be of the food waste. (I mean the special is titled The Big Waste and not The Amazing Things Famous Chefs Can Do With Food On Its Way To The Trash). Well it's scheduled on my DVR so we'll see how it goes.

    A bit more info on the special and when the special will replay can be found at the Food Network.
    An interesting article about food waste at the Guardian (same link as the footnote).
    And a good site with tips on how not to waste food at Love Food Hate Waste.


¹Image and caption from an article by Adam Vaughan for the Guardian found at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/08/food-waste

Asians like fried chicken too!

   While traveling with my parents up I-95 this holiday season, my dad was excited because it meant we could stop at one of the I-95 rest stops. In particular this excited him because it meant he could have some fried chicken at a Roy Rogers. My dad loves his fried chicken and since my mom doesn't let him eat it a lot, (it not exactly being a healthy food item) eating at a fried chicken restaurant is a treat for him, eating at a Roy Rogers Restaurant even more so as they are not located where they live. These few times he does get to eat at a Roy Rogers he likes to remind me of a story that goes something like this...

      Do you remember the time when you were around four years old and your mom had to work evening shifts at the library? I was in charge of dinner for you those nights and so one night I decided to take you to Roy Rogers for dinner. I felt the kids menu items were not worth their price so I decided I would just buy one larger meal for us to share. I bought a three piece fried chicken meal expecting you to only eat one piece of chicken leaving the other two pieces for me. Instead you stole my second piece of chicken and I only got to eat one piece of fried chicken! I had to go hungry that night because of you.

     I think to this day my dad begrudges me eating that extra piece of chicken. My mom joked saying that when my dad passes, instead of bringing flowers to his grave I should bring him a bucket of fried chicken. My dad replied that's a good idea! Maybe I can make it up to him by introducing him to KFC, Korean Fried Chicken. Now I actually haven't tried any myself yet, but F who has had it at BonChon Chicken in Annandale says it's delicious. This article about Korean fried chicken make me even more excited to go try some out with my dad the next time he is in town.

Not having taken a picture at Roy Rogers you'll have to make do with this picture from my first ever meal at Bojangles consumed this past summer.