My part-time helper hates to waste food. I’ve caught her a number of times saving food that I had intended to throw away or worse still, eating it. She stores the half-cup of cooked rice left in the rice cooker overnight; scraping every last grain out into a plastic container, and putting it in my fridge until it grows mold. Or, she’ll pour the dregs of day-old oolong tea into a cup and drink it herself. And, she has also gnawed the bits of meat stuck to soup bones that have had all the nutrients cooked out of them. When I tell her it’s ok to throw the food away, she tells me it would be a waste.

Unlike my helper, I feel no compunction about wasting food. Instead, I have the bad habit of eating the last portion left on the plate even when I’m not hungry. Marv left a handful of penne arrabiata tonight and although I was stuffed to the hilt with ravioli montanara and bananas, I finished it anyway. In these instances, I’m more worried about my expanding waistline than I am about wasting food and money, or destroying the environment. Maybe I should stop being so self-centered.

According to Dr. Mercola’s blog, more than 40 percent of the food grown in the U.S. is wasted or lost which adds up to a minimum of $100 billion a year. And, he says that at least half of the food thrown away in homes and restaurants hasn’t gone bad and could still be eaten. The biggest culprits are convenience stores, restaurants, grocery stores, and other commercial outlets.

While I believe in every person doing their part, I don’t know how much of an impact it would make if only private individuals made an effort. I vaguely recall someone I knew arguing against private citizens recycling because it would make very little impact unless industry and corporations also took part (can’t find any supporting link, though, so she was probably talking out of her a**).

In any case, I should re-think my attitude towards leftovers and try not to gag so much when I put away food for another day. This is where Stephen’s dog would sure come in handy.

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