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American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half Of Its Food.
by Jonathan Bloom
New Book Shelf HD 9005 B654 2010

Food waste is a matter of individual decisions. We determine when and what to buy, stocking too-large refrigerators and too-capacious pantries with oversized containers of food that cannot possibly be consumed before they go bad.
Yet many of the decisions that result in that waste are beyond our control, made somewhere between farm and fork by corporate powers.

Journalist Jonathan Bloom follows the trajectory of America's food from gathering to garbage bin in this compelling and finely reported study, examining why roughly half of our harvest ends up in landfills or rots in the field. He accounts for every source of food waste, from how it is picked, purchased, and tossed in fear of being past inscrutable "best by" dates. In restaurants, portion sizes have ballooned under the mantras “Bigger is better” and “Would you like to supersize that?” And many Americans allow food to decay on refrigerator shelves out of carelessness, lack of meal planning,and sheer ignorance.

The author has found some hopeful signs that this trend may be waning. Many grocery stores and restaurants dispose of surplus edibles through food pantries and similar charitable outlets. Some socially conscious farmers are trying to revive the ancient practice of allowing the poor to gather leftover crops.

Check out, American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half Of Its Food available now in the library on the New Book Shelf New Book Shelf HD9005 .B654 2010