If, as is predicted, the World population expands to 9 Billion(+) by 2050, then over the next 40 years we will have to produce as much food as mankind has ever eaten since we started to walk on two legs.
At the same time, our resources are depleting. Fossil fuels are used not only to harvest, transport, store and cook our food, they are also used to create the vast amounts of pesticides and fertilizers that we have become dependant upon to maintain yields from the land that we farm.
Feeding the planet will become increasingly more challenging and food will be seen as a lot more precious with waste becoming as unthinkable as it was during the Second World War. An army manual from that period recommends skimming used washing up water to retrieve valuable fat! Already insect protein and ‘meat’ grown from cell cultures in giant vats are being hypothesised as viable products.
Ironically, food that we waste today that goes into landfill decomposes to produce methane gas, which is far more potent than CO2 in its greenhouse effects. So what we waste today can have a detrimental effect on our ability to farm productively in the future.
But it is not all doom and gloom. Not wasting food can be challenging and fun, and of course, it saves money.
It can also promote a healthier lifestyle. If you only buy a healthy selection of foods and consume them all before buying more then by default you will be eating a balanced diet. Unfortunately a lot of the good stuff tends to go in the bin along with our good intentions, often due to poor planning and storage.
It is easy to blame big business such as the Supermarkets & Fast Food chains for a lot of our food ills in a similar way that the Banking system threw our finances into a spin. Yet food is a different scenario entirely. Supermarkets sell us what we want; cheap, abundant and consistent food. Unfortunately, what we want is not necessarily what we need, which is fairly priced, low carbon, nutritionally balanced food. If we only buy what we should then big business will have to adapt.
The objective of this Blog is to explore our relationship with food and look at ways to get it back on track. Like anything in a system with finite resources, food imbalances cannot be ignored in the hope that they will go away. The longer the imbalance goes on, the tougher the remedial action that is required.
A lot of the problems with food in the West are down to an apparent abundance of cheap food. As a result, the skills required to manage this precious resource are being lost. If we waste food today then there is not the direct consequence of going hungry tomorrow. These skills include simple house-keeping basics such as cooking from scratch, storing food properly and planning meals. By relearning these tools we can start to get our selves back on track.
So, please, dive in. See if you can start making small changes in your lifestyle and start reaping the benefits. Save money, enjoy your food more, eat healthily, save the planet at the same time and feel good about yourself. What have you got to lose?
Blog entries are archived under the following headings:
Doom & Gloom – What is going to happen if we do not make changes.
Kitchen Disasters – And how to avoid them
Makeovers for Leftovers – How you can make the most of what is in your fridge.
Storage Tips – A lot of what we waste is down to poor storage.
A Brief History of Leftovers – Some of our favourite dishes started life as leftovers.
Shopping Techniques – How Supermarkets manipulate you and how to avoid the traps.
Recipes – My favourites for turning odds and ends into a feast.
Health – How proper food planning can also help you live longer.
Constructive comments and suggestions are welcomed. Negative or abusive posts will be deleted, unless they are so crass that they make me laugh.
