Psychologist Paul Rozin on wasting food

When Paul Rozin was growing up, his parent thought food waste was terrible, telling him to "finish your food. Think of the starving children in Europe."

The psychology worked. "I would eat my food," he said. Now, Rozin is a cultural psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, and one of his research areas is food attitudes. He spoke recently at the Last Food Mile, a national conference on food waste sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

Food waste happens all along the supply chain, from farms to stores to restaurants, but waste in the American home is the single largest component, with the average family of four discarding an estimated 1,164 pounds of food a year - about three pounds a day. A third of that is inedibles, such as chicken bones and orange peels. But the rest conceivably could be eaten. We caught up with Rozin after the conference.

Why does food waste interest you?

It's important. Food is valuable, and it's a shame to waste something that you should eat. Plus, if we didn't waste it, we could save some of the environment because we wouldn't have to make so much food.

Do other cultures view food differently from Americans?

In developing cultures, it's a vital necessity and you're grateful to have it. To compare developed cultures, I compare France and the U.S. In France, there's a reverence for food that we don't have. They not only love it, they respect it. The evening meal is an inviolable ritual. Everybody sits there until the end. It lasts for an hour or so. Nobody's watching television. Everyone's tending to the food and talking about life.

Why do people waste food?

We have a surplus of food. There are poor people for whom this is not true, but most people are not worried about throwing out carrots that have gone a little moldy. Food is cheap, it's easy to get rid of it. Most Americans would agree, if you asked them, that wasting food is a bad thing. They also would tell you starving children in Ethiopia are a bad thing. But they don't do anything about it.

Why not?

They have other interests. They care about their family. They have a local charity they give to. They can't do everything. If you take sustainability and make it high on your value agenda, you will do something about it. If it's 15th on your value agenda, you probably won't.

What's another hurdle?

Suburban life is very bad for all this because it puts you some distance from the food in retail stores. You have to drive there. It's a nuisance, so you're going to get a fair amount of food, not just tomorrow's food. When I lived in France, I bought food every day. My refrigerator was small and the store was a few blocks away. Plus, their food is ready to eat when they sell it. We sell green bananas. We buy food for the week. That means if you don't pace yourself right, something's going to go bad.

Also, bargains encourage people to buy more. You buy a bag of apples because it's cheaper, but then one or two go bad.   

Do you waste food yourself?

I live by myself at the moment, so I waste some food. Most supermarkets are not catering to singles. . . . Also, I make an estimate of how much I'll eat in the next four to five days, and often I'm wrong. I love fresh bread. I go to the Metropolitan. They make great bread. It is good a day old, but it is great fresh. I throw out a lot of bread that's a day old.

Has that changed after the conference?

I am more attentive. I'm looking in the back of my refrigerator more. I'm buying a little bit less.


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