Because of your work on this project, I have become much more mindful of the food I hastily throw away. The hardest thing for me is to NOT read “sell by” and “use by” dates as “throw it all away” dates.

–Suzanne Blum Malley

I take the pledge – and encourage you to do so also. Odd bits of food in the frig? Leftover meats and veggies? Make gumbo or Brunswick Stew out of it. Too far gone? Use one of the handy compost bins here at Columbia. And use the other recycling bins as well. Together we can change the world.

–Nancy Michael

I am messy. That is for certain. My place is always a mess, but that is thanks to to all the fabulous parties I like to host. These aren’t just any parties, they are dinner parties. I love to invite all my friends over and cook lots of food. Not to mention all the food that they bring to the table as well. We have more than just big ambitions, but also big appetites! Unfortunately by the end of the party a quarter of the food is on the floor and another good amount in the trash. Not to mention our dinner conversations usually consume the best of us and we leave too many items out to spoil. Thanks to Curious Columbia, I am much more aware of how big of an issue this really is. Every portion of food left out to spoil or crushed into carpet is absorption of our planets resources and our country’s finances. It is something to go out of your way to recover still delicious food and/or serve the food insecure, but it is another thing to watch your consumption and cut back waste to begin with!

– Izzy

 I am not good when it comes to knowing if food is safe to eat or not. I don’t know when things go bad and what they should look like when they do. Because of this ignorance, I end up throwing a lot of food away. “Well, I don’t know if its good so I’ll just throw it away.Better safe then sorry.” is something I catch myself saying quite a lot. I end up throwing away everything that is just a little questionable. I’m not proud of my misinformed mentality but I imagine this is how a lot of people think. As I learn more about food preparation and safety I’ll be better. But as of now I’m a shameful uneducated food waster.

– Joe

Im a freegan. I eat out of the garbage sometimes. Im not ashamed about it either. I hate seeing people wast there food, especially grocery stores! We live in a society of ever increasing consumerism in a world where resources are limited and people don’t know when there next meal will be. So yea, I eat out of the Dumpster, because I would edible produce go in my tummy or the tummies of people in need then waste away. Trash is trash only when you let it go to waste.

– Lia

Dear Curious Columbia

Everyday I see it. And everyday I take part in it too. Piles upon piles of food are stacked on plates, only to have a few bites taken out prior to being trashed. Its a growing trend to get as much food as possible, and eat as little as needed. As a college student I eat in the cafeteria practically every day, and I see so many people throwing away food. 40% of college food is wasted, just thrown away, and never seen again. I am a food waster, and I am aware of it too. But to change means to alter how I live and how others around me live. If it was just me who changed, would anything matter? Probably not. It would take the whole student population of the college to alter this trend. There are already the foundations for this, and we just need to grab hold and make it bigger. All I know for sure is I get more that I cant eat when I am at the cafeteria, and its a trend that I see throughout all of the students who eat there.

Sincerely,

The Wretched Waster

That’s what I told myself as I threw out an entire frozen chicken, because even though it had only been in my freezer for a week, you never can tell with poultry. I should have stuck with the prepackaged movie-dinners, but it was deal that I just couldn’t pass up. So now, it’s in my garbage.

I don’t really consider myself a food waster because the only food I throw away is absolutely inedible. Which is most of the food I buy, incidentally. Or order at restaurants. I refuse to but food in my mouth that is imperfect – a bruised apple, left-overs, discolored peppers, you name, I toss it. I spend hours at the grocery store carefully examining my produce before I buy it, only to get home and find a blemish. Into the garbage it goes.

I refuse to be a victim of foodborne illness. You can label me a food-waster if you want, but when that  E. Coli outbreak sweeps the nation, I won’t be the one hugging the toilet seat.