Why we shouldn't waste food?
Food is one of the essential needs of our life. Irrespective of money, power or status everyone needs food to live. The necessary things required for a living are either free or have a low cost. Without air, there is no life on earth. It is free of charge. Water too is free or cost less. Similarly, the price to satisfy your hunger is not much.
The capitalist society measures the value of a thing by its cost and not by its utility. With the abundance of food, its value keeps getting lower. But this doesn’t change a thing about its utility. We need food to live similar to as we needed it a thousand years back.
When we waste food, we are wasting more than the money we paid for it. We are wasting the efforts of all the people it took to bring food on the plate.
Let’s start at the beginning of the journey of food. The farmers work hard to plant and harvest the crop. The drivers transport crops to the industries which is then processed and distributed for sale. For a restaurant, the raw materials are transformed into delicious food by some skilled chef. Also, don’t forget all the technological advancements that happened to harvest, transport and process the crops.
In a way, the whole universe conspired to bring food on our table. Well, that’s a little overboard. But it drives the point that don’t waste the efforts of people who made the yummy burger on your table a reality.