[...]Natural resources: the x factor « Feeding the habit[...]…

@GO2, Paul
I agree that food waste often goes hand in hand with a lack of home cooking – the US and UK are good examples of this. But bear in mind that France is McDonalds’ second biggest market. And Mexico is the second most obese country in the world. This is not just an Anglo-Saxon problem. Eating habits are changing quickly, everywhere, and particularly in big cities where fast food and supermarket ready meals are abundant.

@French Derek
Interesting to hear the French example re doggy-bags. I have also heard that Scandinavia is a positive example in terms of office staff bringing packed lunches as a matter of course. All goes to show how much food waste is a cultural matter and not an inevitable symptom of modern life – depends what the reigning values are.

@Kirsty, Ashmita, Miss Alice
Great to hear these personal testimonies. I think the common theme is that food habits are developed early in, and it is difficult to make someone care about food waste if they have not known economic hardship

@Mark
I agree – the rise of food intolerances is surely linked to the abundance of rich, flavoured foods we now consume

Having spent some time in two European capitals I can attest that many non-UK young people appear to be devleoping wastage habits and supermarket-buying tendencies just like any Brit!

But as is echoed by the title of this article, it is the bourgeois etiquette that needs to be beaten. I am enraged when my partner continually wastes perfectly edible food, because his upbringing allowed this mentality despite coming from a below middle-class home.

In Africa and especially South Africa, Mothers and Bread Winners opposed to food wastage, and who grew up in poor environments find that they bear this burden alone. As no-one else cares, they have to find inventive ways of using up food before having to throw it out.

First, few people seem to check their fridges and larders before going to the supermarket. Once there they tend to buy the same list of stuff each week; and when they return home find stuff left over from last week. Guess what happens next.

Second, the “sell by ” date on pre-packed food is perceived as the “use by” date. Once past that date it gets thrown out. Worse, many retailers discard stuff that won’t last their internal “shelf-life” rules (eg fresh foods have a very short shelf life, even though they are usable well after the internal rule date).

@ Paul I can assure you that, here in France, it is quite acceptable to ask for a doggy-bag (at the level of restaurants I can afford, anyway). And that’s even though portions are (acceptably) smaller than in other countries I’ve visited.

I am pretty sure I became gluten intolerant thanks to all the nibbles at such work/social events, which seem to be produced specifically to appear fresh but yet dont last very long, and lack variety.

I have read that 40% of Westerners now experience food allergies – is this linked to the industrialisation of food that has contributed so much to its waste?

You point out how the healthiest and most rational ways to live are actually the same – I would join you in getting half a camembert out at the next biofuels conference!

It will be very difficult to change the status quo and I’m not excluding myself from wasteful city habits.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone in a European restaurant ask for a bag to take leftovers home – it’s just not the done thing, but surely the cooks would want their customers to eat everything up rather than it just go in the bin.

I’ve heard it’s commonplace in the US to use a food bag (doggy bag?) to take food home and I’m sure it is across Asia.

The campaigns and new rules for retailers can help, but as you say peer pressure is the only real incentive people have to change habits – along with the prospect of saving more money each week.