Eat sustainable… choose wisely !

Eat sustainable... choose wisely !
How can we eat sustainable ? The first step: don’t waste your food

Over 1/3 of the food produced is wasted and thrown as waste while it is still edible. Eat sustainable… Choose wisely! Nevertheless, the data say that there will be a need to increase food production by almost 70%, because our population will be increasing. Does that sound logical to you? And this concept becomes even more illogical when we think of people on the other side of the world without food and melanterites, who make up about 1 billion of the entire population.

If on the one hand we want not to waste the food we eat, on the other hand we will never want to be without it. Just think of one of the most classic daily actions: shopping, or even, the moment we eat. Both are simply reduced to satiating our hunger, grumbling belly and crying fridge.

Some practical advices to avoiding wasting food

But let us pause for a moment to think, for example, what is behind a basket of strawberries buy at the supermarket. Strawberries are sown, harvested, taken to crates, packaged, stored in exchange platforms, labelled and transported by plane or ship, depending on the area where they were born. They land in Europe and then arrive in Italy. From Italy they are distributed to supermarkets, perhaps to the fruit and vegetable center.

Mom and daughter arrive at the counter, the daughter wants strawberries, mom takes two to please her dad and little brothers too. The baskets finally arrive at home, but the strawberries are not eaten immediately and then stored in the fridge because they do not mature too quickly. What’s going on here? It passes the first day, the second day, then they are put behind another food, until they are no longer seen. One day the baskets reappear because the fridge has emptied, but our dear strawberries in the meantime, have become varied… And at this point we just have to feed her the damp, which is so gluttonous. We need to think about how much food we buy!

Don’t fall for bad promotions

2×1 promotion, which they like so much because they give the idea of making a deal at the time of purchase, statistically are not what they’re seem to be! The second package of food, in fact, will certainly be thrown in the trash because it will not be consumed by the deadline. If you like promotions, then take advantage of the trend of selling discounted foods close to expiration, which would otherwise end up in the trash can, which is spreading in different supermarket chains.

Second step: eat locally sourced food?

Another point to think about is locally sourced. Why buy at locally sourced? Because if a food system is to be sustainable, it must have a low impact in terms of carbon footprint. The carbon footprint is used to calculate emissions of so-called greenhouse gases, that is, all those gases, such as carbon dioxide, that are then responsible for rising temperatures and global climate change. But carbon footprints must be calculated throughout the supply chain, that is, from sowing to consumption, passing through transport. Each of us contributes to carbon footprints through the purchases we make and decreasing them means being a little more sustainable! It is important to know not only how what will be put on the table is done, but also where it comes from. Eat sustainable… choose wisely !

Food choices are the most impactful environmental choices we have to make. We must choose wisely

More than 50% of everyone’s carbon footprint is due to food choices. In the global market, 0 km is closely linked to seasonality: respect seasonal cycles and in this way, you will respect not only the environment, but also biodiversity!In fact, each crop not only has its own place, but also its moment. Eat sustainable… choose wisely !So, if in winter, being in the Northern Hemisphere, we were faced with our strawberry basket and a bag of fuji apples, we should be able to make a sustainable choice, knowing that we would not give up the taste.

Let us be co-operatives of the system, and not just consumers!

Be green!

Be sustainable!

Eat sustainable… Choose wisely!

 

Dr. Luisa Gragnoli,

Food Technologist

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