Eat This: The Customer is Not Always Right

Tristram Stuart, an English author and historian who is deeply concerned with the modern problems of food supply, unveils the immoral and almost obscene corporate food waste present in the richest countries of the world. His TED talk, entitled "Tristram Stuart: The global food waste scandal" (TED, May 2012) is centered on the absurd pickiness that makes perfectly edible food end up in the trash bin. I am convinced of the fact that this pickiness is a product of an over-fed, over-confident, over-advertised consumerist society.

The shocking amount of food that is discarded simply because it does not follow the right marketing or legal standards is just amazing. For example, tons of bananas, oranges and potatoes can be trashed if they don't comply with the shape and size that is required, regardless of freshness and taste. Baking companies throw away thousands of bread loaves' ends a day just because no one would dare serve a sandwich prepared with them. And then there's offal, a delicious and nutritious food source that has been disappearing from markets and is now mostly given to animals.

Stuart proposes "freeganism" as a way to expose corporations and create conscience about this senseless food waste. He basically walks around the neighborhood checking on supermarket bins to see what has been thrown out. I have seen videos of people who practice freeganism, and it is incredible how they can put together a pretty good (even gourmet) and healthy meal straight out of those bins.

In my perspective, corporations have created a cruel, immoral monster. It is called "The Consumer". After decades of being told he was right about everything and deserved only the best the world could give, The Consumer has decided to take that literally. And now, he will reject what is not perfect. He will call the manager if the shape of the apple is not the same it used to be just a few weeks ago. He is looking for the comforting feeling of "sameness", as if that were an indicator of quality. He will not even think about the children in Africa, who would find in that oddly-shaped apple a life-saving meal. He will just look for that perfectly rounded, shinny, waxed red apple that was seen in thousands of weekly shoppers and TV spots. He was programmed for that. And now, he rules the world.

Link to talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/tristram_stuart_the_global_food_waste_scandal.html