Food potential, Food essential, Food credential, Food confidential…
FOOD-ential!
The global population is growing at an alarming speed and so is food scarcity, poverty, starvation and famine. Climate changes are a challenge to human mankind and food scarcity is an actual issue. Yet, everyday tons of edible food is thrown away either as left overs or because produce have reached its due date, be a bit soggy and have seen better days. While people are starving, tons of food is wasted!
For many years we lived abroad in areas where the difference between rich and poor was more than clear. People would be scrambling to get their next meal, while we would readily have access to food and cook up daily meals. It taught me to think twice about food and try to avoid food waste and to use what we have although it might not fit to the perfect recipe. It is a process! It becomes a habit. This is both economical to the environment but certainly also to our personal budget.
By looking at the potential of food and what I have in the fridge, I try to minimize this waste. Leftovers are turned into new dishes, vegetables, fruits and greens which might be a bit sad are used in stews, soups, cakes and other dishes. A chicken can make it to our table 3 days in a row,- 1st day as a roast chicken, 2nd day the left over cuts of good meat is used in salads, stir fries or as filling in tortillas and the 3rd day the chicken is peeled meticulously and the meat is used in a stir fry, as a chicken/pasta, sandwiches or the like.
It does not prevent me from cooking up meals with all new freshly bought produce – but instead of discarding leftovers or the remaining vegetables that I did not use in the specific recipe, I try to cook up meals incorporating whatever is left over and produce which is unused. Like most households, I too end up having tomatoes that are a bit wrinkled, 2 stalks of celery which did not fit the recipe, apples which are uneaten and suddenly too old to be appetizing, over ripe bananas and much more. But I try to use this instead of throwing it away as it works perfectly well when prepared in a dish.
Instead of being tossed and going to waste, food has potential. Food is essential for our survival, often credential produce is wasted and I will try to share my “confidential” recipes with you …
Happy reading!
Karin
Contact: karinstub8@foodential.com