Food for thought Lane Cove local Dinh Tran has two passions - food and the environment. This has led her to create a global campaign called the ‘Save Food Movement.’ Words by Jocelyn Biddle.
Dinh Tran says that we have a responsibility to purchase and prepare food more responsibly.
The campaign is aimed at making a difference by encouraging people to consciously reduce food waste to protect our environment. “The ‘Save Food Movement’ is about inspiring people to realise that we can all make a difference,” says Dinh. “And we need to act now – not later. “For every new enduring food saving habit that we adopt, there will be an amazing positive knock-on effect for our environment.” Dinh emphasises that we all have a responsibility to purchase and prepare food more responsibly to reduce how much is being thrown out. “As food breaks down in landfill, it produces methane, which is 25 times more lethal than carbon pollution. This is having devastating effects on the environment and the sad truth is that with a bit of planning, this is largely preventable.” A food and travel expert, Dinh is also the founder of www.eattheglobe.com.au - an online community where users can discover and share interesting food stories from around the world. Dinh said current trends highlight the extent of the food waste issue, both in Australia and globally: • A staggering one third of all food produced around the world is wasted which is equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes. If only 25% of this waste was saved globally, the chronically hungry (870 million people) could be fed. (The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2011) • A ustralians throw out $8 billion worth of edible food every year, which is equivalent to 4 million tonnes. 33% of this is fresh food. (foodwise.com.au) 10 TVO OCTOBER 2018
Judy Friedlander says that before we buy food, we need to think about its impact on our planet.
OZ HARVEST, Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, has started a community awareness program aimed at reducing food waste with a simple 4 step process. 1. LOOK at what you already have in your fridge, pantry and freezer before shopping. 2. BUY what you need to save money, reduce food waste and help the planet. Write a shopping list and don’t be tempted by offers and deals so you only purchase what you need. 3. STORE food correctly to make it last longer. 4. COOK with what you have and apply the ‘use it up’ approach to make food waste a thing of the past in your home. Source: www.ozharvest.org
As food breaks down in landfill, it produces methane, which is 25 times more lethal than carbon pollution.
• A ustralians throw up to 20% of the food they purchase, which equates to over $1,000 worth of food per household every year. (Mintel 2017; foodwise.com.au) • T he biggest food wasters are typically 1824 year olds; households with more than $100,000 annual income; and families with children. (foodwise.com.au) • T hrowing out food also throws away all the resources used to produce that food. For example, throwing out 1kg of beef wastes the 50,000 litres of water it took to produce that meat. (CSIRO data) Judy Friedlander is the founder of FoodFaith, which runs multi-cultural food events and operates a community garden at Hughes Park in Lane Cove. Judy is also a post-graduate researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at University of Technology Sydney. She says that there is so much that we can all do to help our environment through our food choices. “Before we buy food, we need to think about its impact on our planet. For example, if we consider the ‘food kilometres’ involved in buying fruit or veges out of season, they are likely to have been flown in - sometimes from overseas - which contributes to greenhouse gases. This is significantly reduced if we choose seasonal produce grown locally.” Judy explains that meat, particularly beef, has the greatest environmental impact of all food groups. “Compared to plant based foods, meat production uses a great deal of water and phosphorous, which is a finite resource. Cattle also produce methane, which contributes significantly to greenhouse gases.” Judy says that reducing the amount of meat we consume is not only one of the most significant steps that we can take to reduce our environmental footprint, but
