Glean

Abstract

This chapter explains how curtailing food wastes encompasses a suite of practices—running the gamut from composting in your backyard to diving into a dumpster to recover food that's still edible, with the crucial common denominator being that less food is tossed out. It examines how might these and other food-waste practices go beyond the lone individual who decides to buy only the food they can eat or the individual radical anticapitalist who liberates food from their neighborhood grocery store dumpster. The chapter investigates how those individuals can add up to a movement, a sum greater than its parts. The chapter also considers the connections people make (or fail to make) between their food waste and other practices, such as cooking and shopping. As the chapter emphasizes, the answer lies in whether people consider not only sustainable food-waste practices but also factor in sustainability and social justice when choosing what to eat and where to purchase food.