Let’s be honest: how often do you throw away food without really thinking about it? Most of us do it more than we’d like to admit. In today’s episode, we’re talking about Taste Before You Waste, a local organization that tackles this problem by collecting surplus food and turning it into community dinners. We’ll hear how it started, what difference it makes, and why even small steps can help reduce food waste.

Tiffany Flaherty is part of the organisation and she is going tell us everything about how taste before you waste operates and its impact, but also how we can redefine what we call “waste” and how each of us can reduce food waste at home.  

Tiffany's additional thoughts regarding the Erewhon strawberry:

The Erewhon strawberry - the viral strawberry selling for $19.99 - epitomises an unsustainable food system and contributes to the global food waste issue. Advertised as a seemingly perfect strawberry, one might ask "what happens to the strawberries that aren't the perfect size, shape, or color?" Likely they are thrown away, despite being edible. This not only contributes to wasted resources (water, land, and energy) to produce a fruit that is merely thrown away, but it also contributes to food inequality where rather than edible food being redistributed to those who need it the food is wasted. Since these strawberries are produced in Japan and have a peak ripeness with just a mere 24-48 hours, they are flown across the globe to reach L.A. The carbon footprint of the Erewhon strawberry is undeniable. Aside from carbon emissions, the fact that each strawberry is sold in an individual plastic cloche contributes to the use of single-use plastic and greater plastic pollution. There is also an unsustainable social element to this strawberry. It has become a luxury item only available for those willing and able to afford it. Food is one of humanity's basic needs and rather than ensuring greater access and resources to those struggling to feed themselves, we have glorified a single strawberry. This subsequently skews the prices people are willing to pay for food and what are acceptable prices for our basic necessities. If only the staggering price indicated the true environmental and social cost of trying one of these strawberries.

Links:

Website Taste before you waste: https://www.tastebeforeyouwaste.org/

Instagram Taste before you waste: https://www.instagram.com/tastebeforeyouwaste/

AmsterDames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amsterdamespodcast/