Wasting Away...

On any normal weekend when there's nothing on TV, I somehow end up watching the Food Network for the majority of the day.  I saw that a new show was challenging four chefs to find food in trash or wasting away in fields to feed 100 people.  One comment really hit close to home--the American public has been trained to expect flawless food.

Just about any time I eat a fresh vegetable, bet it a green bean or potato, I meticulously look it over for imperfections, blemishes or weird little spots.  If it's fruit, I'm looking for the same thing and to make sure it's not too mushy.  I realized that I'm not only picky when it comes to taste, I'm extremely picky about how my food looks.  Just last weekend I grabbed some fresh green beans at the store.  I made sure that I grabbed the brightest and healthiest green beans out of the bunch and even in the back of my head I was wondering just how many "bad" green beans I had in my bag.  Of course upon closer inspection, it was just tiny specs of dirt or normal imperfections, but I honestly had visions of throwing the entire green bean away simply for it's minor flaws.  What a waste!!  

I do the exact same thing with my fruit--except I'm even worse because I haven't quite opened my taste buds up to much in the fruit department.  I have a bowl of clementines and apples on my counter and sure enough, every morning I search for the least blemished, freshest and near perfection fruit I can get my hands on.  If it's the least bit squishy, I throw it away or "accidentally" forget it at work for 5 days to where it's actually no longer good to eat.  Why do I do this?  Because I have been trained to look for the best and brightest in the produce department.  

What's even worse, is that my parents go to a Farmer's Market with flawed food and people beg for more fresh food from them--yet here I am turning my nose up at it because of a few flaws that could either be avoided or cut out.  Heck---sometimes the flaw is on the outside and has nothing to do the good part of the fruit---it's all just superficial---just like me when it comes to produce.  

So I am adding on a new challenge to myself this year---Get over the flaws and just eat the damn thing!  Cut off the bad part and salvage the rest, don't discount the fruit because it has a tiny little bruise, and in general, just give it a chance because I know someone else is out there like me who won't be willing to...

Also, I wanted to share this article I read as well that found that the US lets nearly half of it's food supply go to waste: Half of US Food Wasted

Anyone else have this "Picky Produce" problem like me?  If so, let me know!