Food waste

We lick our lips, grumble comfortably and feel a pleasant warmth in our stomachs. Because we love to eat well. Pleasure stimulates our brain and supplies us with happiness hormones. And yet this love affair between us and our food has a bizarre downside: a third of the food grown worldwide does not end up on our plates, but in the bin.

This drama often unfolds so secretly, silently and quietly hidden in our kitchens or in the backyards of restaurants and supermarkets that it is not easy to get to the bottom of it. With this focus, we take a spotlight in our hands and shine a light on the hidden corners where food goes by the wayside on a grand scale. And we look around for people who do things differently and think outside the box. Of course, we also look at the list of solutions that are already available to us - in large numbers.

Campaigns, films and media focuses in recent years have made many people realize that the topic of saving food may be moving further and further up our collective to-do list. A number of documentaries and movies, such as Erwin Wagenhofer's film "We feed the world" or Valentin Thurn's movie "Taste the waste", our visual image of the dimensions of the drama of food waste may already have been formed. In the section 'Worth knowing', we once again set out the dimensions of the problem and lay the table with plenty of arguments for budding food savers. It is becoming increasingly clear that many people are needed to stand up for this issue. Although glimmers of hope are steadily increasing - the big rethink is not (yet) in sight.

That is why we are bringing pioneers who are swimming against the tide with a very conscious approach to food onto the stage of our focus area. Take a look at the Cooking pot by organic chef and regional cooking revolutionary Jeremias Riezler. He tells us how he goes against the gastronomic mainstream of buffet and steak culture by cooking creatively, seasonally and organically. As a restaurateur, he feels partly responsible for ensuring that not only fillets end up in the pan, but that all parts of an animal are used as much as possible according to the motto "nose-to-tail". He also likes to challenge his guests with this:

"This requires perseverance and education," says organic chef Jeremias Riezler. He also calls for more respect for our vegetables. There is a lack of them as far as the eye can see.

We also take a closer look at the topic of nose-to-tail in another article in the focus section. We ask ourselves what attitude, knowledge or incentives are needed to dig out recipes for exotic-sounding cuts of meat from grandma's recipe book, or to try out new creative 'nose-to-tail' recipes.

How much we would like to absolve ourselves of responsibility and talk ourselves out of the fact that large-scale food waste is caused by technical, logistical or other mistakes that have little or nothing to do with us personally. But the facts speak a different language. The majority of food that is thrown away - in our care - becomes waste. Regardless of whether we are cooking, filling the fridge or eating out, we cannot sneak away from our responsibility.

This also becomes clear in an interview with Gudrun Obersteiner, an expert in waste management at BOKU, Vienna. She takes a look with us into the depths of domestic refrigerators and organic waste garbage cans. And dispels common myths: Food belongs in the fridge and even tomatoes and apples have been proven not to lose their taste there.

Gudrun Obersteiner has lots of ideas on how we can change our everyday culture and make our approach to food more mindful: it's all a question of perspective. And not really a great art.

She sums up: if we want to systematically tackle the problem by the scruff of the neck, nobody can shirk their responsibility. Not consumers, retailers, restaurants or farmers. Everyone must pull together to close the major leaks in food waste.

This does not have to be laborious and cumbersome. There can also be light-footed and creative solutions. That is why we are dedicating a separate article to these 'lifelines' of food. We will consider whether 're-harvesting' could also become a new trend here. Discovering that we could eat much 'more' from a plant than we often realize. Daring recyclers don't stop at kohlrabi leaf chips and banana peel ragout. But we also provide signposts that can help to pass on food to other eaters in a low-threshold and effortless way.

And finally, we nominate you for a new title with this focus: the title of Fridge Manager. This job comes with a lot of responsibility, but the bonuses are also impressive. Will you accept the election?

After all, every day we all open the door that makes the difference between spoilage and salvation: the fridge door.

• Are we stocking our fridge consciously enough?
• Do we have enough of an overview to detect when a food product is getting old?
• Are we prepared to change our cooking plans on the spur of the moment so that a food of this kind can end up in the pot after all?
• Do we pull a leftover cookbook off the shelf in a casual routine?
• Or can we easily come up with 3 different ways of preserving fruit and vegetables?

No matter where we start: Saving food demonstrably leads to a win-win-win situation. It is worthwhile for your wallet, for the climate and the environment and - if we think it through - even brings a large portion of more justice into our networked world.

If you have discovered a special way to save food from the garbage can: share it with us - write a short comment about your idea!