海角大神

Don鈥檛 look now, but聽The New York Times聽is talking trash鈥攆ood trash. In other words, The Old Gray Lady is giving wasted food the love it deserves.

This week鈥檚 Food section features three compelling, informative pieces on food waste, and it further indicates the rising profile of this once-ignored issue. Side note: it鈥檚 odd that an article detailing the rising food waste tide can help further raise that tide, but that鈥檚 the power of聽The Times. Who says newspapers are dead?

Anyway, we mostly have Kim Severson to thank for this exploration of the wasted food, which centers on her article, 鈥淪tarve a Landfill.鈥� It鈥檚 an ideal title because it connotes that vital聽EPA hierarchy聽for keeping food out of landfills.

Because waste prevention should take precedence, I wish the piece hadn鈥檛 begun with composting, which sits at the bottom of the聽hierarchy. Still, I was thrilled that Severson mainly focused on avoiding wasted food. And I loved the discussion toward the end about how cooking solely from recipes drives waste, as you accumulate many items you only use once. The prescribed remedy: intuitive cooking, as found in聽The Flavor Bible.

I did find a few items a bit off. For example, the European Union (EU) flirted with naming 2014 the Year Against Food Waste, but it never actually happened. The EU may have loosened the ban on oddities, but it left intact the far more damaging specific regulations on the size and shape of specific produce items. And while I love the artistry of the line 鈥榙iscarded is becoming delicious,鈥� it is alliteration over accuracy (with which I can sympathize). We鈥檙e talking about food that聽辫谤别惫颈辞耻蝉濒测听would have been discarded. Splitting hairs? Possibly. But it links avoiding waste with dumpster diving, which is a very different thing.

And I do think semantics matter. To wit: 鈥榚xpiration dates鈥� are a complete misnomer, with disastrous consequences. And think about the minor differences between 鈥榝ood waste鈥� and 鈥榳asted food.鈥� On a more positive note, whether you call them 鈥榖roccoli stems鈥� or 鈥榖roccoli,鈥� I couldn鈥檛 agree more with chef Daniel Humm鈥檚 description鈥攄elicious! 聽

Along similar lines, the Food section also featured聽a handy accompanying article聽with advice on聽avoiding waste in your own kitchen. While the abbreviated print version is easily digested, the online one might overwhelm you with pro tips. Yet聽it鈥檚 a treasure of a piece, distilled culinary wisdom that we鈥檇 all do well to鈥攍iterally鈥攃ut and paste. So make grandma proud and put it on your fridge. Similarly, I keep聽this UC Davis guide to fruit and vegetable storage聽(PDF) on my fridge to know where to put plumcots.

The Times鈥� advice comes divided by categories鈥攑roduce, dairy, etc. If it鈥檚 overwhelming, try focusing on one type of food for now. I focus on avoiding food waste professionally, and I found plenty of novel ideas here. For example, brining a chicken with the brine used to make pickles. I鈥檝e used it to flavor and moisten egg salad, but never chicken.

I was a bit surprised not to see a mention of simply shaving off mold on cheese. Maybe that tip was deemed too basic, but it鈥檚 certainly a common occurrence. Given the abundance of food waste avoidance tactics, you probably found something missing, too. If so, we鈥檇 love to hear your tips and ideas in the comments section.

And finally, there鈥檚 the聽quirky, provocative piece聽on those pesky produce stickers that are proving problematic for commercial composters. And the same can be said for backyard composters alike, which begs the question鈥攊s there a better way? Two words: Buy local. Shopping at farmers鈥� markets, farm stands, or even picking or growing your own eliminates the need for those PLU stickers, which convey聽more info than you鈥檇 imagine!

But in the supermarket world, laser branding could alter that sticker status quo. Whether it鈥檚 deemed worth the expense is another question. Without an alternate system, it鈥檇 be fun to see what wider distribution of those sticker bingo cards mentioned in the article might accomplish, with prizes that most people would want鈥攆inancial incentives instead of a free bag of compost.

In the end, though, as several NYT commenters noted, it鈥檚 not really a big deal. Like any home composter, I鈥檝e grown accustomed to those stickers sneaking into my compost pile and, later, garden. I haven鈥檛 heard many complaints from the vegetables.