Why Americans have stopped eating leftovers(ˈleftˌōvər)

Why Americans have stopped eating leftovers(ˈleftˌōvər)

By Caitlin(ā) Dewey

American consumers throw away 27 million tons(tôN,tən) of food each year, according to the food waste(wāst) coalition(ˌkōəˈliSHən) ReFED(rā,rē fed), clogging(klägiNG,ˈklôg-) landfills(ˈlan(d)ˌfil), generating(ˈjenəˌrāt) greenhouse gasses, and costing(kôst) the economy an estimated(/BrE ˈɛstɪmeɪt,AmE ˈɛstəˌmeɪt/) $144 billion.

The solution, however, could be simple: get people to eat leftovers again.

Once the mainstay(ˈmānˌstā) of weekday lunchboxes(lənCH) and thrifty(ˈTHriftē) home cooks, leftovers today constitute(ˈkänstəˌt(y)o͞ot) the single largest source of edible(ˈedəbəl) food waste(wāst) in U.S. homes, according to a new study(ˈstədē) by the Natural(ˈnaCHərəl) Resources(riˈsôrs,riˈzôrs,ˈrēˈzôrs,ˈrēˌsôrs) Defense(diˈfens,ˈdēˌfens) Council(ˈkounsəl), an environmental(-ˌvī(ə)rn-,enˌvīrənˈmen(t)l) group.

The finding defies(diˈfī) conventional(kənˈvenCHənl) wisdom(ˈwizdəm) about the sorts of foods consumers waste — and represents(ˌrepriˈzent) a major(ˈmājər) obstacle(ˈäbstəkəl) for environmentalists and anti-food-waste campaigns(kamˈpān). While past efforts have focused on improving consumers’ food literacy(ˈlitrə-,ˈlitərəsē) and kitchen(ˈkiCHən) skills, converting them to leftovers will involve(inˈvälv) changing deep-seated(sēt) food preferences(ˈpref(ə)rəns).

“I don’t think this is just about education,” said Dana(denə) Gunders, a senior(ˈsēnyər) scientist in NRDC’s Food and Agriculture(ˈagriˌkəlCHər) Program. “It’s a cultural(ˈkəlCHərəl) shift that needs to happen.”

In the report, published last week, NRDC sought to measure(ˈmeZHər) how much food Americans waste and what types of foods they tend to waste most. The study analyzed(ˈanlˌīz) the food-waste habits of more than 1,151 households in Nashville(-vəl,ˈnaSHˌvil), Denver(ˈdenvər) and New York(yôrk), who agreed(əˈgrēd) to keep diaries(ˈdīərē) of the items they tossed(täs,tôs) and allow researchers to check their trash(traSH) cans afterward.

What researchers found was staggering(ˈstagər): The average(ˈav(ə)rij) person wasted 3.5 pounds(pound) of food per week. Of that, only a third consisted of inedible(inˈedəbəl) parts, such as chicken(ˈCHikən) bones(bōn) or banana(bəˈnanə) peels(pēl). And of the remaining(riˈmāniNG), edible(ˈedəbəl) trashed food, bin digs found that 23 percent consisted of prepared(priˈpe(ə)r) leftovers, from any source — followed by fruits(fro͞ot) and vegetables(ˈvejtəbəl,ˈvəjətə-), baked(bākt) goods, and liquids(ˈlikwid) and oils(oil).

…