ESSAY
Food Waste for Thought The Bites We Don’t Eat Words by: Sofia Frias Graphics by: Jamie Kim
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n the full-bellied moments after a meal, as the buttons on our jeans grab tightly onto their loops, we think about the food that adorned our plates. We immortalize our meals in memory, sealing them in jars that open themselves back up when called upon by a familiar smell or taste. But what about the food that doesn’t make it to our mouths? Where do the naked cobs of corn, hairpin-sized fish bones, and cores of apples end up? Surely not preserved in memory with an airtight lid. Upon deciding our stomachs are satisfied, we scrape scraps of food from our plates and into the trash. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
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Well, not quite. It’s rare that we worry about the impact of the food we throw out. We bite our nails over disposable straws and plastic bags, but do we ever bat an eye when tossing out a half-eaten sandwich? It’ll break down quickly enough, won’t it? Isn’t food biodegradable? Yes, it is, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe for the environment. Let’s follow our food scraps on their journey to decomposition. We start by stuffing neglected and inedible food into our trash bins until, like our pants at the end of a proper meal, the trash bag practically bursts at the seams. We twist and knot said trash bag to the
