Abraham Yeung - Blog Q1 Week 3 - Consume.
Everyday, I grab a slice of cold bread at 7 in the morning. I’ve got to prepare for school, and filling my stomach is the least of my worries. After I wolf down the large slice of bread within 5 minutes, I resume preparing for school.
I used to snack on treats after coming home from elementary school. It used to be my favorite thing to do coming home from school, heating up corn dogs and dinosaur chicken nuggets. The ungodly fragrance of manufactured, processed food would fill up the room as I gorged myself on food (that would probably be the reason why I weigh about the same as I did 4 years ago).
I feast on my mother’s dishes that she painstakingly prepared for dinner. The fragrant smell of even just rice coats the entire house, making me salivate. As I take another bite, I once again admire how hard she has to work to feed my family.
I’ve always loved food. Food is something that has had so many fond memories for me. I remember the video of my first sandwich, my dad gleefully watching me as I layer small pieces of meat and cheese on top of each other; that ooey, gooey richness of Tillamook cheddar that for some reason I always loved eating; and the constant reminders of my parents that when I was a baby, I learned how to dual wield spoons because they weren’t feeding me fast enough.
It is with these memories in mind that I declare from the bottom of my heart: People should not waste food. Food is something that can create so many good memories, and you quite literally cannot live without it. It seems quite idiotic that someone would waste food that is literally their own, but it seems that food waste is quite commonplace.
I feel like some people don't seem to understand how simple it should be to reduce personal food waste. The best solution and the solution that I have always used is to just—hear me out—eat the food. If you made too much and can’t eat all of it, then just wrap it with saran wrap and put it in the fridge.
Hi Abraham! I was so excited when I saw your blog about food, which tells you how much of a foodie I am. Your blog had many parallels to my relationship with food. When you mentioned not really thinking too much about what you are eating because you are so consumed by school (get what I did there), I realized my eating habits have really changed. Like you, I used to come home from school on the hunt for snacks. I would tear apart my kitchen to make my afternoon feasts, and now I settle for a measly banana.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the imagery you utilized in the blog— the description of the rice’s aroma literally made my stomach grumble, and it is not helping that I have yet to eat breakfast.
I appreciate the message you included; the concept of not wasting food is so simple, yet continues to be a massive problem. It actually made me a little sad that I no longer get super excited about food because I am just too busy. I hope you continue to enjoy your mom’s cooking and give some more thought to your breakfast choices — that cold bread is not going to cut it.
Individuals are probably not responsible for all that food waste, it’s mostly the big stores and chain food places which throw away their leftovers at the end of the day. Do you remember that worker at a donut place (Dunkin Donuts? Maybe something similar) who got fired for giving leftover donuts to homeless people? And the big grocery stores that throw out fruit and vegetables which don’t “look appealing”?
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree that people shouldn’t waste food, individuals are probably not the highest priority. And saving food should also not get to the point where you are eating expired yoghurt or moldy cheese to not waste it (like my grandmother sometimes does) where you risk getting food poisoning or something worse.
But at its core, your blog has a great message which more people should heed. Good job!
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ReplyDeleteHey Abraham! I love your anecdotes spread throughout the text to create a very effective appeal to emotion and nostalgia, and what’s great is that it’s spread out like peanut butter and jelly (see what I did there :). Having lived in countries where some people don’t have access to the food they need, I completely agree that food wastage needs to be stopped, and I love your idea of wrapping up food and keeping it in the fridge since that’s exactly what I do! Call me weird but leftover pizza beats pizza itself. I think you wrote about economists in your first blog: did you know it’d be beneficial for average consumers if we stopped wasting food? Okay you probably did because less food wasted equals less money wasted but there’s also a bigger reason, since by wasting less food you then buy less food which drives down demand which drives supermarkets to lower their prices and for their to be more food overall which can really help countries become drought resistant (and some countries SORELY need this). Overall, I love your blog and the idea you get across through your persuasive personal anecdotes!
ReplyDeleteHi Abraham! I wholeheartedly agree with the message of your blog! I also love food, and I love to cook. Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies, and I find it strangely relaxing even though I am running around the kitchen. Seeing people waste food can be really disheartening, as we are so privileged to be able to consume whatever we want whenever we want to. I also must point out that it is usually big companies that tend to waste food the most, as they would rather throw it away than give out free food to the needy ( god forbid)! I still think that it is important to recognize that America has a huge food waste problem, and it must be fixed. I will be standing with you with my tupperware filled with leftovers until this realization comes!
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