There has been some excellent media coverage of the food waste issues facing cultures privileged with overabundance. Last year, National Geographic did an amazing and typically in-depth job of covering food waste (and beyond), highlighting the stories of farmers who were simply leaving tons of produce in the field, since minor imperfections would make it impossible to sell to retail outlets.
But that loss seems almost innocuous when compared with another aspect of food waste, one that John Oliver, in his typical in-depth fashion, recently covered on Last Week Tonight. He dug in to the amount of food that grocery stores simply throw away rather than donate to shelters or others in need, simply because they believe they will be liable in the very unlikely occurrence that someone got sick from the food. Nevermind that no one has ever been sued for this, nor that there are actually laws on the books in many places preventing this type of lawsuit!
Since I started fermenting, I’ve had my own realizations about the type of food waste that was happening at my house. (PS-I wasn’t a totally wasteful maniac before I started fermenting and, conversely, I’m I haven’t become perfectly mindful of every ounce of produce that crosses my fridge threshold since). Fermenting my food, and overcoming the initial fear I felt about eating my home-fermented foods, made me very conscious of my own ability to discern whether or not food was spoiled. I came to realize that I was endowed with the tools for this. My eyes and nose probably evolved as they are, at least in part, to tell me what was safe to eat. It is only in the age of industrialized food that deciding for yourself what is safe to eat has become risky.
I no longer look at “best by” or expiration dates. I definitely used to be the person who looked at the August 8th “Best By” date on my milk on August 9th, smelled it (it smelled fine) and then promptly poured it down the sink, fearing that hidden pathogens might send me on a downward spiral into never-ending illness. Why? Why did I do this? I’ve smelled bad milk before, and frankly, IT TELLS YOU. It evokes disgust (a word which, at its root, literally means “distaste.”) Understanding the process of fermentation has empowered me to better understand when things have gone bad, and it has inspired me to think a little critically about why best by dates are on packaging in the first place (if you’re a manufacturer, perchance you want people to err on the side of buying again sooner rather than later?).
Besides making me an empowered and critical thinker when it comes to tossing or keeping the contents of my fridge, fermentation has made me actually better at keeping stuff around for longer. Lots of food fermentation is about preservation: from kraut to wine to miso, many fermented foods probably began solely as ways to keep food edible through the fallow season. My biggest food waste problem was always letting produce go bad in the back of the crisper. This made me feel incredibly guilty (especially once I started gardening and saw first hand how much work goes into growing even a single carrot!), so I was very glad to discover a few years back that the vegetables used in vegetable ferments do not need to be prime, glistening specimens, newly plucked from the field. Moldy or slimy vegetables don’t do great in ferments, unfortunately, but the weird, shrunken wrinkly bits of root veg? They can be brought back to superstar status with a simple chop-salt-pack ritual.
I’ve found other little tricks, too: that little bit of juice or wine left in the container gets new life as vinegar, fruit seconds from my local farms make excellent wines and sodas and things like cabbage cores and broccoli stems, that might otherwise be reincarnated only as compost, are made into tangy treats instead.
Again, I am not perfect. And I’m not confusing the small steps that I make at home with the fix for an international problem. But I like the feeling that I’m in charge of my food, and my food waste, though, and that comes from my deep and abiding love of fermentation.
Have any of your food waste habits or practices changed since you began fermenting? Please share in the comments!
Danielle says
Since I’ve been fermenting foods I make a point before I go on vacation to ferment any extra veggies I don’t think I’ll eat 3 days before I leave. I save food and have healthy food ready for me to snack on when I get back.
Nicole Novak says
I’ve always had a composter or a compost pile but it wasn’t until I got a compost pail in the kitchen that I got serious about feeding my compost. I got a compost pail because of my new obsession with fermentation of all things. Kefir, Kombucha, miso, fermented everything. This new hobby’s byproduct is a whole lot of vegetable matter that needed a place to go other then in the trash. Carrying bowls of trim down to the. composter was tedious plus the open bowl attracted pests. So when I decided to get compost pail everything changed. Yes, you can keep all those fermentation experiments in the fridge for literally years but getting the compost pail made it much easier to toss out my unwanteds–the kraut that just didn’t taste good to me, the Curtido that went past crunchy and tangy to limp and muddy tasting, the Brussels sprouts that just plain tasted terrible to me, extra SCOBYs that were at the bottom of the SCOBY hotel and looked really tired, whey from the gallons of kefir that I let go too far on purpose so I could make cheese and so on. Now I wasn’t WASTING food, I was donating it to my composter who would, in turn, donate all of its guts to my garden plants!! A win-win for everyone.
Leah says
I, too have compost and am particularly aware of every drop that goes in there. Additionally the community where I live seems to be quite aware about sharing ‘extra’ food. We have Grey Bears, which gives “Brown Bags” of fresh fruit, vegetables, sometimes legumes, and always bread, to anyone over fifty-five and takes food to home-bound seniors as well. This food comes from donations from local markets and farms. I am told that 2/3rds of each bag is now Organically Grown food. One of the health food stores near where I live puts out food they are not going to sell, either for a bruise on its surface, or because a new shipment has arrived, out for whomever want it. This has all been a blessing to me and my family, as I imagine it is for others as well. Where I live feeds many homeless people daily. And, I imagine there is still much that gets wasted. It is a good idea for us all to pay attention so we walk as lightly as we can on Our Mother, this Beauty-full Planet upon which we live. Enjoy this beautiful day! 🙂
Amanda says
Thank you for sharing! I love to hear about such inspiring (and PRAGMATIC) systems! Thanks for what you do to keep that going!
Kelly says
Since I started fermenting, our food waste has gone way down, and I’m more inclined to try to revive wilted greens or cut out rotten spots than I was before. I still miss the mark, though. Tonight, I found a peach and a nectarine that had gotten buried in the bottom of the crisper for way too long. No part was salvageable of either fruit, but the various molds on them were so crazy and interesting looking that my 4-year old son and I had a great time checking them out. I would have never paused to appreciate the look of molds before I started fermenting!
Amanda says
I love that, Kelly! And yes! This is so exactly how I feel. My repulsion for our microbial world has turned to fascination and curiosity. I totally dig it!
Becky says
I don’t know if it’s because I’m thrifty (okay, cheap) or if it’s because I’ve worked in food service for so many years, that food cost – and waste – has been drilled into me as an awful thing to be avoided. I’ve always strived to use as much as possible and what I don’t use goes into our compost, although I get pretty creative about using as much as possible before it comes to that – after all, I pickle watermelon rind! For years, I’ve bought seconds in bulk for canning purposes, with some foods (like bananas) getting thrown in the freezer to be made into banana bread at a later date. I’ve only started using fermenting as a means of avoiding throwing something into the compost bin and it worked beautifully,
Celina says
John Oliver is awesome. I live in a condo where I’m not allowed to have a compost heap (it would be unsightly!) so over the years I have tried different ways of not wasting food. Bokashi, which is a indoor outdoor anarobic microbial compost, worked but was so labor intensive that I couldn’t keep it up. This year I’m doing mushrooms in a big pot under some lovely impatiens. I can’t bury a whole lot in the soil but the mushrooms definitely eat what I put in there and I figure every little bit counts. I still feel not buying things that I won’t eat and extending the life of my food through fermentation has been the best way to help avoid throwing stuff away. Thank you for writing about this. I loved your post.
Amanda says
Agree on Oliver! I love watching real journalism (especially when it’s hilariously presented). And wow! Serious kudos to you. I don’t know if I would have your dedication! I use a composting service, but I did try to do Bokashi a few times but I never managed to keep it fly-free for long, and in a fermenty house, I do not need an invitation for flies!
So impressed with your dedication!
SallyT says
Yesterday I bought some salt that had a “best by” date on it. Really?
Amanda says
Hahahahaha! That’s amazing, Sally. “This rock is no longer….errr, rocky?”
tejanojim says
Hey, I have a random question. I’ve been making sauerkraut using the Kraut Source my wife bought me. It’s pretty great, with a couple of design issues. That aside, the kraut I make has good flavor but is really crunchy. I’d love it to be a bit more tender. Would more time massaging salt, or more time in ferment, address this? I usually leave it for ten days as that’s all I can stand to wait. Thanks!
Amanda says
There are a couple kinds of sauerkraut crunch, and I’m not sure which one you’ve got going on. So…I would definitely massage a bit more. See how it is at your usual 10 day stopping point. If you’re still getting the crunch you don’t love, let it go a little longer. Like up to a month. I know, it’s hard, but you might really like the results :-).
I believe the kraut source will fit larger, 1/2 gallon ball jars, so you could try making a larger batch to keep you kraut-full in the interim. Good luck and please let me know if you end up with the right crunch!
tejanojim says
Thanks. I made a new batch, and I used more force in actually massaging salt into the shredded cabbage and carrot. I’m hoping that does it. I’ll try to come back with an update when it’s ready. Since I’m serving it at a potluck, I really can’t take longer than 10 days.
tejanojim says
Amanda – the kraut came out amazing. Using more force to squeeze and massage was key. I made some changes to the Kraut Source recipe, I can share if you’re interested.
Pearl Jasper says
Lovely post ! I’m recently trying to explain to my kids how important is reducing food waste and what fun is it at all. We are now making our first tries to make kraut and it seems like the results will be quite good. Thank you for the inspiration!