All In

The world throws out far too much food. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), close to one-third of global food production gets lost or wasted—nearly 1.3 billion tonnes! Certainly, the world would be far better off if we reduced food waste. But the truth is that Canada alone throws out $31 billion worth of food annually—and that doesn’t include the amount of food waste from institutions (hospitals, prisons, and schools) and from the travel industry—especially cruise ships. That’s a tragic loss of foodstuffs—and it’s also extremely costly.

Not only is it a tragic loss of food, but, according to FAO, it’s also a major squandering of resources, including water, land, energy, labour, and capital. Wasted and tossed food also needlessly produces greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming and climate change. One clear way we can do our part to reduce food waste is to use up as much of the produce we buy as possible in our cooking. This could include vegetable peelings, fruit cores, vegetable stems, and roots. Most of us are accustomed to tossing these often very nutritious components into the compost bin along with our coffee grounds and tea bags.

When shopping, the important thing to remember is to source the best local produce. If it’s not considered pesticide safe by the Environmental Working Group (ewg.org) or in the top 15 products regarded as clean, then hunt for organic—particularly when using skins and peel.

In our feature, we’ll show you how your accumulated (previously discarded) bounty can make perfect ingredients for such kitchen necessities as stocks and sauces. Try these no-scrap-wasted recipes and you’ll soon be advocating all the waste-not-want-not pleasures of embracing each important part of your flavourful, nutrition-packed food.