Waste: Uncovering the global food scandal

摘要

How would you react to someone throwing half of their weekly shopping straight into the bin? With shock, dismay, disbelief? And yet, in Waste: Uncovering the global food scandal, Tristram Stuart (2009) argues that throwing our food away is exactly what we are doing, every day, on a global scale. Stuart's argument is potent and deeply disturbing. In a world where nearly one billion people are undernourished and hungry (FAO, 2010), and where unique natural habitats are being destroyed to make space for growing crops, up to half of the food we make globally is wasted. In this very important book, Stuart examines many of the links in the food provision - and disposal -systems. He travels the globe to bring back rich stories of production and destruction of food, demonstrating time and again that the extent of human food waste is one of the most pressing issues in the world today. Food production, consumption and disposal are interconnected and at the root of many challenges faced by the globalised world, including malnutrition, global warming and biodiversity loss. Simply by wasting less food, Stuart argues, we can make a massive step towards addressing environmental concerns and 'relieve the hunger of the world's malnourished 23 times over, or provide the entire nutritional requirements for an extra 3 billion people' (p. 193).