Good Food is Everybody's Business
Exactly how much food does the average American waste? While inefficient harvesting, transport, storage and packing can contribute a large portion to that waste, in developed countries like ours there are significant losses – and waste – in food processing, wholesale and retail distribution, and households, restaurants, and food services where food is consumed.
The growing oil, water, and climate crises threaten food security in all communities. This new film by Chris Bedford looks at the deeper issues of food security and community survival in this new age of global chaos and scarcity. “Getting Real about Food & the Future” features the wisdom of John McKnight, Bill McDonough, Lester Brown, Bob Costanza, and David Korten.
Reporter and author, Jonathan Bloom, figures America throws away half of its food. He traces waste through the food chain, from farm to store to home, and suggests how we can be less profligate.
It’s deja vu all over again! No, you’re not imagining things; tomato prices are on their way up! But wait – weren’t we here last year?
In The Right Price for Good Food – Part 1, I proposed that the right price for good food depends on whom you’re asking, which may possibly explain why discussions around food prices are so lively. In The Right Price for Good Food – Part 2, I looked at the issue from the farmer’s perspective; today I examine it from the consumer’s perspective.
Together Derek Sarno, Global Senior Chef and Educator on the Whole Food Market’s Healthy Eating team, and I explore Whole Food’s new Health Starts Here program and discussed how consumers can implement the program in their daily lives.
Most people who care about good food are at least somewhat aware that the (mostly small) farms which grow good food scrape by financially while farm bill subsidies go to large commodity farms. In this second of three pieces on food prices, our local food systems economist, Viki Sonntag, explores how these subsidies shape market prices and in turn our product choices.
Rising global food prices has pushed an estimated 44 million more people into extreme poverty in developing countries over the past eight months, the World Bank reports. The poverty-fighting institution said its food price index increased by 15 per cent between October, 2010, and January, 2011, and is just 3 per cent below its 2008 peak during the last food price crisis.
