Just over 20 years ago, the Austrian cult TV show “Wer will mich?” was taken off the air. Back then, it focused on finding homes for homeless animals. Do we need a similar format today for surplus food?
With perseverance and compassion, Edith Klinger managed to find homes for even one-eyed old cats back then. We could use a similar icon for food today: “These poor celery roots aren’t exactly spring chickens anymore and have seen better days. Still, they deserve a good home. Why not give them a chance to end up in a pot after all!”
Of course, a problem as vast as food waste cannot be solved by one person alone (see the “Did You Know?” article). Let’s take a look at the growing ranks of food rescuers who have dedicated themselves to this very mission: giving food a second chance.
It seems that all proposed solutions to the problem of food waste revolve around one of the following three challenges:
Saving food starts right in the field. Today, nearly a third of the vegetables grown are left behind in the field (e.g., carrots). Harvesting more thoroughly is the order of the day. After all, a great deal of energy goes into growing this food.
Some initiatives are therefore focusing on the use of crop residues. In France, the right to “post-harvest gleaning” (French: glanage) has actually been enshrined in law since the Middle Ages and is currently experiencing a resurgence. In England, a dedicated network— the Gleaning Network —was established to facilitate communication between farmers and gleaners. As a result, 561 tons of food have already been saved.
But people in Austria are also taking on this issue. The startup“Unverschwendet”gives unsellable or unharvested fruits and vegetables—preserved for later use—a second chance by making them available to the public.
Beyond the farm fields, numerous platforms and initiatives are also targeting retail chains, restaurants, and private customers with their food rescue efforts. The food banks in Austria are undoubtedly a major force in food rescue. According to the Association of Austrian Food Banks, approximately 5,500 tons of food are distributed annually to people affected by poverty in Austria alone.
Behind many of these rescue operations, however, lies a sustainable business model. The startup“Too Good To Go,”which was established in Germany and has now expanded to Austria, kills three birds with one stone: its app helps restaurants find buyers for food that would otherwise go to waste. Delicious food packed in “surprise bags” can be picked up by customers at affordable prices. This also benefits the climate and the environment.
For the past eight years, people have been able to share the contents of their personal refrigerators online and find people to take their leftovers or excess food. The“foodsharing” platform currently has over 200,000 users in German-speaking countries.
At home, however, our ability to save food also depends largely on our own know-how. It comes down to our skills in using up leftovers, our creativity in the kitchen, and our experience in preserving food. To encourage consumers to adopt a “completely waste-free” approach to food consumption, the German company of the same name , for example, offers cooking classes ( also online) that are entirely dedicated to preventing food waste.
Cookbooks dedicated to using leftovers are also taking up more and more space in the culinary section of bookstores. Online, you can find an increasing number of recipes that offer—sometimes wildly creative—ideas for using every last bit of food, such as stir-fry / bread / vinegar made from banana peels. This concept of“leaf-to-root”recipes is evolving into a movement dedicated to finding a tasty use for even the tiniest scrap of peel: for example, in the form of miso vegetable broth made from trimmings and peels, a spice purée made from pumpkin leaves, or kohlrabi leaf chips.
All these efforts to salvage food are incredibly important and can set many positive changes in motion when it comes to global food security, the climate, and the environment. When these efforts fail to take effect in time and food passes its peak of hygienic safety—a different kind of “salvage” should come into play: rot in peace. And of course, this doesn’t mean letting it rot away in a landfill, but rather: composting. A return ticket, so to speak, back into the heart of all life-giving processes. Just as a healthy cycle should be.
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About the Author
Dr. Sybille Chiari is a member of the editorial team for “Nachhaltigkeit. Neu denken” and has been engaged in sustainability and climate communication for many years—both through research and writing. She is part of the Scientists for Future movement and chairwoman of the Bele Co-Housing association (a communal housing project featuring organic, regenerative agriculture ; www.belehof.at).
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