美国国家公共电台 NPR--Food waste is a big problem. These small changes can help

Food waste is a big problem. These small changes can help

Transcript¹

Tossing those unwanted leftovers² or unused ingredients into the trash doesn't just hurt your wallet — it also costs the climate.

Over one-third of the food produced in the United States is never eaten, and food waste is the single most common material landfilled and incinerated across the nation, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

When food is wasted, so are the natural and human resources that go into producing, processing, transporting, preparing and storing it. Those processes generate significant carbon dioxide emissions³, which is a major driver of climate change.

A 2021 EPA report estimates that U.S. food loss and waste produces the equivalent of the annual carbon dioxide emissions of 42 coal-fired power plants, and enough water and energy to supply more than 50 million homes. And that's not including the impact of food that rots in landfills, producing methane⁴, an even more potent⁵ greenhouse gas

Nearly a decade ago, federal agencies set a goal of cutting U.S. food waste in half by 2030 — a benchmark that is hurtling ever closer. And now is as good a time as any to reduce waste, thanks to soaring grocery prices.

The USDA says the best way to reduce food waste "is to not create it in the first place." But what does that actually entail⁶?

Morning Edition spoke⁷ with Dzung Lewis and Emmy Cho, both chefs and YouTubers, about small steps people can take at the supermarket and in the kitchen to eat more sustainably — and creatively. Here are their tips:

Before you shop

When picking out recipes and making shopping lists, start by surveying what's already in your fridge, says Lewis, the host of the YouTube cooking channel Honeysuckle.

"Try to look around your kitchen and see what you can make with it before heading to the grocery store and buying everything you see on a recipe list, because so many things can be substituted with what you already have," she explains.

In other words, you don't have to stick exactly to the recipe if it means buying a brand new jar of something that'll just end up sitting in the back of the fridge. If you won't have a regular use for that particular product, she says, just swap⁸ it out for something else.

For example: If the recipe calls for a lemon and you don't have one, go with an acid you already have in the pantry, like vinegar. You can find more expert advice in NPR's guide to food substitutions.

"Just being more resourceful with what you have ... and being creative with what you have is a skill that I think a lot of us kind of under-utilize," Lewis says.

Before you cook

Cho, host of the YouTube channel EMMYMADE, says her most common food-waste pitfall⁹ is one likely shared by many.

"I'll buy a bunch of items and then put them in my refrigerator and then I'll have a beet¹⁰ that's languishing¹¹ in the corner of my crisper drawer or my cilantro is wilting¹² or melting in my bag in the bottom of my fridge ... because I simply forgot about it," she says, calling it an issue of space management.

So, armed with glass containers and dry-erase markers, she came up with a better system for keeping track of what's in the fridge. She says labeling allows her to quickly assess which ingredients she's working with, then figure out how to use them.

"Not only is it a great way to reinvent or create a recipe, but it's also a great way just to use up what you've got in the refrigerator, which is super, super satisfying and cost-effective," Cho says.

While cooking

Once you have the ingredients you need, make sure you're using them to the fullest extent.

For one, that means using all parts of the vegetable, says Lewis, reminding people that broccoli¹³ stems are "perfectly¹⁴ edible¹⁵" and carrot tops "make a wonderful stir-fry." You can also give vegetables a second life by pickling them.

"And that's something that I've started doing a lot more in my kitchen, like a red onion, if I have half of it that I'm not going to be using, for example, I'll pickle¹⁶ it," Lewis adds. "And pickled onions [are] great on an avocado toast. It just has that extra sourness, and you're not wasting your food."

Cho also recommends repurposing scraps¹⁷, especially if you can't compost. She'll throw potato and carrot peelings, garlic and other "little snippets" into a Ziploc bag to use for stock, for example. And she's had luck getting her cilantro to last longer by storing it in a cup of water in the fridge.

When trying new things

Reducing waste doesn't have to put an end to eating at restaurants or trying new recipes, though Cho and Lewis do have tips for how to go about that in a more environmentally friendly way.

Lewis says she gets inspired by the food she eats at restaurants, and will generally try to recreate some form of it in her own kitchen later. And often, thanks to the large portion sizes at most restaurants, she can do that using the leftovers.

Take a takeout container of carnitas, for example.

"So what I like to do is bring it home, maybe for lunch or maybe for breakfast, recreate it in my own way," Lewis says. "What I would do with it is make it into like an Asian spin, a kimchi fried rice with carnitas, top an egg with it, and then my pickled onion that I mentioned earlier."

At the end of the day, Cho says it's important to be practical and realistic about what you like to eat — especially now, as people may be looking to start the new year off on a healthier note.

But if you don't love kale, she points out, you might not end up finishing — or even eating — that bunch you just bought.

"If you do want to try things, I would recommend or consider buying things loosely," Cho suggests.

So instead of getting a full package of things like carrots or Brussels sprouts¹⁸, consider going for a few individual items from the shelf. It might really pay off.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

3 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

4 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

5 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

6 entail   

vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要

参考例句：

• Such a decision would entail a huge political risk.这样的决定势必带来巨大的政治风险。
• This job would entail your learning how to use a computer.这工作将需要你学会怎样用计算机。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

9 pitfall   

n.隐患，易犯的错误；陷阱，圈套

参考例句：

• The wolf was caught in a pitfall.那只狼是利用陷阱捉到的。
• The biggest potential pitfall may not be technical but budgetary.最大的潜在陷阱可能不是技术问题，而是预算。

10 beet   

n.甜菜；甜菜根

参考例句：

• He farmed his pickers to work in the beet fields. 他出租他的摘棉工去甜菜地里干活。
• The sugar beet is an entirely different kind of plant.糖用甜菜是一种完全不同的作物。

11 languishing   

a. 衰弱下去的

参考例句：

• He is languishing for home. 他苦思家乡。
• How long will she go on languishing for her red-haired boy? 为想见到她的红头发的儿子，她还将为此烦恼多久呢？

12 wilting   

萎蔫

参考例句：

• The spectators were wilting visibly in the hot sun. 看得出观众在炎热的阳光下快支撑不住了。
• The petunias were already wilting in the hot sun. 在烈日下矮牵牛花已经开始枯萎了。

13 broccoli   

n.绿菜花，花椰菜

参考例句：

• She grew all the broccoli plants from seed.这些花椰菜都是她用种子培育出来的。
• They think broccoli is only green and cauliflower is only white.他们认为西兰花只有绿色的，而菜花都是白色的。

14 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

15 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

16 pickle   

n.腌汁，泡菜；v.腌，泡

参考例句：

• Mother used to pickle onions.妈妈过去常腌制洋葱。
• Meat can be preserved in pickle.肉可以保存在卤水里。

17 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。

18 sprouts   

n.新芽，嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• The wheat sprouts grew perceptibly after the rain. 下了一场雨，麦苗立刻见长。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The sprouts have pushed up the earth. 嫩芽把土顶起来了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》