"wasting food" news and stories

As we obsessively catalog the ways that humans damage the earth -- without really doing a hell of a lot about it – we must finally come to "green waste." It represents the uneaten food that must be disposed of. According to one estimate, it accounts for 14% of the vittles purchased, or 470 pounds per person per year. On the average, that's like each of us annually throwing away $600, or $3,000 for a family of five. Moreover, this figure has leaped by 50% since 1974. And the food we waste in restaurants, partly our fault and partly not, may exhibit an even higher percentage.

Working from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of the uses for discarded foodstuffs, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Sandy Bauers gives tips on how to partly solve the problem of household food waste. Not buying as much food, and finding creative -- and delicious -- uses for leftovers is a first line of attack, and she has high praise for her husband, who can do miracles with a ham bone or a chicken carcass.

Coffee beans. Photo: Monika Bartyzel

• Co-owner of Seattle's Coffee Works defends a price hike of 50 cents per pound on their espresso blend.
• In a world of tightening budgets and resource concerns, how to make the most of your money and not waste food.
• Fall gets fancy and frugal with art lectures and free appetizers at Hotel 1000.
• To help food safety concerns, the Obama administration has launched a new informative Web site, http://www.foodsafety.gov.
• How to fight the bitter taste in eggplant dip.
• Frank Bruni's "Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater" tells how he went from adult bulimic to New York Times food critic.
• Restaurants: Bastille Cafe & Bar in Ballard is on its way to prime French fare, Greenwood's Aloha Ramen dishes "satisfyingly chewy" noodles and Lola sizzles with Mediterranean meals.
• Recipes: Cool Summer Minestrone; Fresh Corn Omelet with Smoked Mozzarella and Basil; Roasted Eggplant Spread with Onion and Sweet Pepper; Salmon, Red Potato and Green Bean Salad; Smoky Chicken and Three-Bean Salad; Classic Barbecue; Toasted Pecan Rice and more.