More on the cost of throwaway food.....

The Los Angeles Times has a nice guest column that further explores the impact of food waste in the United States. A particularly striking quote was the following:

Squandering so much of what we grow doesn't just waste food; it also wastes the fossil fuel that went into growing, processing, transporting and refrigerating it. A recent study estimated conservatively that 2% of all U.S. energy consumption went to producing food that was never eaten. To give you a sense of perspective, every year, through uneaten food, we waste 70 times the amount of oil that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico during the three months of the Deepwater Horizon spill.

It's incredibly difficult since so few of us cook anymore, and eating out the portion wars are still going on. SuperSizing hasn't disappeared. The truth is that given our generally sedentary lives, our need for food is very moderate. I medium bowl of rice with veggies and some protein is really enough. Oddly having food in front of me makes me eat more, overpowering my satiety signals.

The author of the column Jonathan Bloom has a blog Wasted Food.