Focus Frostburg Screens “Wasted” The Story Of Food Waste

At 12 p.m. on April 17, Focus Frostburg hosted a viewing of Wasted: The Story of Food Waste in Lane University Center’s Atkinson Room as a part of the group’s week of climate awareness.

The event began with Director of Dining Services, David Glenn, explaining how important sustainability is. Glenn explained to the crowd that Chesapeake Dining Hall composts food waste. For every pound of food that is composted, the school donates a pound of food to the county’s food pantry. After he was done with his discussion, the movie started.

The movie highlighted the economic and environmental impacts of food waste in a humorous and upbeat manner. So many different aspects of food waste were presented in the movie. “Food waste is more than thrown away food-it’s apart of a complicated agriculture system,” said one farmer. However, a lot of people in the documentary believed that greed was one of the biggest factors of food waste. In Europe, bread and sandwiches have always been all the rage. Unfortunately, the undesirable end pieces of the bread go to waste. Luckily, some of these pieces have been reinvented into a beer, named Toast Ale. This recycling is significantly beneficial to the continent’s problem with bread waste.

Wasted did an exceptional job at covering many different demographics of food sustainability. It examined chefs across the globe, farmers, and school kids. Every group did their job to help the environment. Many chefs in the movie discussed how they transform traditionally unwanted and wasted food into delectable dishes. One chef actually altered his restaurant’s menu, so customers would choose to eat an undesired piece of seafood. In addition to the chefs, farmers thought of innovative ways to feed their live stock. Lastly, the kids in New Orleans were introduced to transforming their leftover food into nutrient filled soil.