Food Waste: A Tragic Response To World Hunger

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Recommended: The issue of food waste

Stephen Odhiambo
Prof. Ginger Hughes
ENGL 1302-23407
19 April 2018
Food Waste: A Tragic Response to World Hunger
Before any attempt is made to respond to this claim, it is necessary to understand the definition of the word tragedy. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines tragedy as “a disastrous event” and with this definition in mind, it is safe to say that the copious amounts of food that is forgotten and later mindlessly discarded in landfills is a global travesty of catastrophic proportions. Even though it can clearly be said that world hunger is a tragedy, critics might ask, “why should food waste be considered tragedy?” Of course, this might be because by the definition of tragedy, food waste simply doesn’t fit the criteria, but that is …show more content…

Catering to clientele demands, supermarkets purposely overstock shelves to provide the façade of limitless abundance. According to Dana Gunders, these profitable food landscapes lead to the disposal of unsold--but still edible--produce that surpasses the “sell-by” date or items that are excessively touched or bruised by browsing customers. Gunders also adds that the cornucopia of supermarkets smothers and overwhelms customers, “awakening every omnivore’s dilemma: what in the world shall I eat?” As a privileged nation, it is with certainty that one can say that the United States is slowly but surely forgetting how to eat: “we’re uncertain when foods have gone bad, and when we aren’t sure, they’re tossed” (Bloom 134). Americans are increasingly showing the world that they know nothing about the food they use to sustain themselves and are slowly losing their ability to cook for …show more content…

Waste from farmers and suppliers all the way to supermarkets and consumers are all collective participants of an intricately connected global food waste sequence. The tragic act of food waste is clearly depicted and answered by these cold hard facts. Men, women and children all over the globe suffer and die from severe cases of malnutrition and starvation; yet according to world hunger news statistical data, the world has been able feed everyone a two thousand calorie diet since the 1960s. With the picture painted with these facts, only one criteria sufficiently incorporate the odious images that fills the mind: a tragic

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