No Waste...

Tues 16 Aug 22 Brahma Vidya Mandir Ashram

Something that strikes me every time I live in this ashram is the sister’s attention to not wasting: not wasting much of anything. Today, I’ll talk about this in the context of the kitchen and meal preparation.

Every morning before breakfast, I join Lalita and another sister to cut the vegetables that are cooked by someone else for our lunch. Lalita is in charge of the gardens and the vegetable purchases from the local village weekly bazaar. She determines what will be on the menu by knowing what garden vegetables are ready for harvest. She is also aware of what is in the pantry, how long the vegetables in there will be good, and accordingly -- what order they should be used. Every day she is informed of how many people are eating, and with this information she knows the amount of the particular vegetables we need to prepare for each meal. This is important, as the ashram kitchen is not equipped with a refrigerator. [a sidenote: Something I’ve noticed with my friends and family in India (and many living in the USA): they do not prefer leftovers. So, even if the sisters did like leftovers, there is not an easy means to keep the food from spoiling.

About three mornings ago, I was chopping big, green leaves (they kind of reminded me of Taro leaves). The next day, I was chopping long, peeled stems. When I asked, my thoughts were confirmed—I was working with the stems of the leaves I’d cut the prior morning. Once picked, the leaves will wilt and go bad faster than the stems. So we eat the leaves one day, the stems the next. “Ahh, but what about the peelings from the stems and other vegetables,” you may ask, “those get thrown out, right?”

No. They do not end up in the trash. Throughout the morning, kitchen scraps are collected in a big bowl. Before breakfast this morning, I took the half full bowl of scraps and walked to the Goshala (dairy). To the right, and just outside, of the pen for the cows and their calves, there are two bulls: I have the morning treat for the ashram “plows.” The bull closes to the walkway, lifted his head as I walked towards him and his buddy. It felt like he was smiling as I got closer. I hand fed him a few of the bigger scraps, and tossed a couple over his head to the other guy. Before I could totally dump the contents of the bowl into his trough, he was licking at the bowl. This morning, like every morning, there is no food waste in the preparation of meals in this place.

When there are leftovers, they are utilized in the next meal. For example, this morning, there were several chapatis leftover from yesterday. They were torn into tiny pieces, cook with some oil, spices, and salt and served as an extra “side” for breakfast. Again, nothing spoiled, no food wasted.

Not wasting food is an important issue to consider when thinking about how we might live more sustainable lives. Additionally, this is something to think about in the context of how much food is thrown away worldwide, while simultaneously over 820 million people go hungry. (WHO)

According to a publication put out by the United Nations Environment Programme “Worldwide Food Waste,”

“Nearly 1/2 of all fruit & vegetables produced globally are wasted each year – UN”

“In the United States 30 per cent of all food, worth US$48.3 billion…is thrown away each year. It is estimated that about half of the water used to produce this food also goes to waste since agriculture is the largest human use of water.” https://www.unep.org/thinkeatsave/get-informed/worldwide-food-waste

According to the WHO,

An estimated 820 million people did not have enough to eat in 2018, up from 811 million in the previous year, which is the third year of increase in a row. This underscores the immense challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030, says a new edition of the annual The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report released today. (https://www.who.int/news/item/15-07-2019-world-hunger-is-still-not-going-down-after-three-years-and-obesity-is-still-growing-un-report)

Admittedly, conflict, climate change, and COVID-19 are the primary causes for people going hungry around the world. However, disparity is another reason.