We will spend the next couple of weeks learning about the role food waste plays in the climate crisis. In the classroom, the fourth and fifth graders watched a video laying out the magnitude of the problem—40% of the food produced in the United States is wasted. We discussed some of the psychological contributions (e.g. consumers prefer perfect produce and grocery store displays overflowing with abundance), market forces (e.g. farmers won’t pay for labor to tend and harvest crops when they can’t recoup the cost), structural barriers (e.g. there is no federal regulation of sell by, best by, and expiration dates, which are set by producers), and scientific differences between food that is thrown into the landfill (where in the absence of oxygen it produces methane, a harmful greenhouse gas) and food that is composted (where it can go back into the system to help produce more food).
In the kitchen classroom we learned a simple, affordable recipe to turn leftovers and odds and ends from the refrigerator into a colorful, delicious meal. These buffet-style lessons are very popular because after all their hard work, the chefs get to make their own salad rolls, filled with variations of vegetables, fruit, tofu, herbs, and, of course, rice noodles. Everyone did a wonderful job working together and sharing the sriracha!
