Unraveling Food Waste Factors in Portland
By Amanda Brasgalla
PORTLAND, Ore., March 25, 2014 – On our second day in this City of Bicycles, Voodoo Doughnuts, and the Goddess Portlandia, we discovered much about Northern Oregon’s many food waste initiatives and how individual citizens can make a difference.
We visited separately with two representatives of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, an agency the primary goals of which are to decrease food waste through public education as well as increase awareness about issues such as recycling, composting and waste prevention.
Our first interviewee was Steve Cohen, the city’s Sustainable Food Program Manager, who talked about how food waste has changed in the last century. Cohen explained that as recently as 50 years ago, 25 percent of Americans raised their own food.
In the 21st century, however, only 2 percent of U.S. residents are farmers. This dramatic shift has altered people’s perceptions about their food.
"There's a huge disconnect between people and the food they eat," Cohen said. "There was a very strong connection between us and food. We don't have that happen anymore for the great percentage of people. We have a system that has changed – and not for the better."
Cohen elaborated that this change has allowed for a social separation with respect to food access, especially access to nutritious food. Modern manufacturing has led to more processed foods that have longer shelf lives, but also tend to be higher in calories, fat, salt and preservatives.
"Calories are cheap. We don't value what is cheap," Cohen said. "But nutrition is not necessarily so."
Cohen’s interview opened our eyes a bit more regarding the overall effects of food waste on society, including related areas such as health care and socio-economic inequality.
After lunch, we conducted a second interview with Lauren Norris, the City of Portland’s Residential Sustainability Outreach Coordinator. Norris, a key player in Portland’s composting movement, focused many of her remarks on how and why food waste is created, and how citizens can reduce food waste in simple ways.
"It's not about people not caring," Norris said. "They just need more education."
Preventing food waste is about changing habits, Norris explained, such as being more mindful of how much we buy, how much we cook, and how much we eat when we go out for meals.
Norris’s points about behavior change really resonated with the Waste Not Team. We aim to have zero food waste on the trip.
During our stay in Portland, we ventured out to local restaurants and delicatessens, all of which had active composting and recycling programs.
Of course, we had to stop at Taylor’s favorite place in Portland, Voodoo Doughnuts. Devouring our delicious doughnuts, this proved to be an easy start to our personal No Food Waste campaign.
After our sugar highs, we took a short break before heading over to Portland’s Pearl District, where we filmed B-roll of a Food Not Bombs dinner feeding underneath the Burnside Bridge.
Adam, who we interviewed on Monday, has been a Food Not Bombs volunteer for the past two years helping people downtown.
We ran into him again tonight, and it was great to see him and other volunteers contributing to the Portland community while also diminishing food waste. We look forward to discovering other compelling stories as we further unravel the issue of food waste.
By Amanda Brasgalla
PORTLAND, Ore., March 25, 2014 – On our second day in this City of Bicycles, Voodoo Doughnuts, and the Goddess Portlandia, we discovered much about Northern Oregon’s many food waste initiatives and how individual citizens can make a difference.
We visited separately with two representatives of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, an agency the primary goals of which are to decrease food waste through public education as well as increase awareness about issues such as recycling, composting and waste prevention.
Our first interviewee was Steve Cohen, the city’s Sustainable Food Program Manager, who talked about how food waste has changed in the last century. Cohen explained that as recently as 50 years ago, 25 percent of Americans raised their own food.
In the 21st century, however, only 2 percent of U.S. residents are farmers. This dramatic shift has altered people’s perceptions about their food.
"There's a huge disconnect between people and the food they eat," Cohen said. "There was a very strong connection between us and food. We don't have that happen anymore for the great percentage of people. We have a system that has changed – and not for the better."
Cohen elaborated that this change has allowed for a social separation with respect to food access, especially access to nutritious food. Modern manufacturing has led to more processed foods that have longer shelf lives, but also tend to be higher in calories, fat, salt and preservatives.
"Calories are cheap. We don't value what is cheap," Cohen said. "But nutrition is not necessarily so."
Cohen’s interview opened our eyes a bit more regarding the overall effects of food waste on society, including related areas such as health care and socio-economic inequality.
After lunch, we conducted a second interview with Lauren Norris, the City of Portland’s Residential Sustainability Outreach Coordinator. Norris, a key player in Portland’s composting movement, focused many of her remarks on how and why food waste is created, and how citizens can reduce food waste in simple ways.
"It's not about people not caring," Norris said. "They just need more education."
Preventing food waste is about changing habits, Norris explained, such as being more mindful of how much we buy, how much we cook, and how much we eat when we go out for meals.
Norris’s points about behavior change really resonated with the Waste Not Team. We aim to have zero food waste on the trip.
During our stay in Portland, we ventured out to local restaurants and delicatessens, all of which had active composting and recycling programs.
Of course, we had to stop at Taylor’s favorite place in Portland, Voodoo Doughnuts. Devouring our delicious doughnuts, this proved to be an easy start to our personal No Food Waste campaign.
After our sugar highs, we took a short break before heading over to Portland’s Pearl District, where we filmed B-roll of a Food Not Bombs dinner feeding underneath the Burnside Bridge.
Adam, who we interviewed on Monday, has been a Food Not Bombs volunteer for the past two years helping people downtown.
We ran into him again tonight, and it was great to see him and other volunteers contributing to the Portland community while also diminishing food waste. We look forward to discovering other compelling stories as we further unravel the issue of food waste.
