Beyond the Dinner Table: recognizing food waste during the holiday season

Avila Payne, Staff Writer

Every year, American families across the country crowd to local grocery stores to purchase food for holiday season dishes, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and each year, much of this food is left uneaten. This leads me to wonder why many continue to celebrate this holiday in a manner that is mindless towards the waste it produces. 

   In 2023, an estimated 320 million pounds of food were wasted in the United States (U.S.) due to Thanksgiving meals alone, which is about $550 million worth of food. This amount of discarded food is equal to 267 million wasted meals.

   So how does the holiday season play into an increase in food waste? Over-preparation of food and poor planning leading to leftover food is the most common culprit. Effects of food waste can be seen in current rises of food insecurity, inflation of food pricing, and a heightened need for energy to produce food negatively impacting global warming.  

   To improve on these long-standing issues, we need to understand the price of our actions and identify necessary factors to reduce the output of our food-related waste. Every year the world loses about 40% of all food produced. With the world already experiencing alarming rates of food insecurity, the overwhelming loss of food is devastating.

   Developing countries, including much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, tend to face mass food insecurity. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates nearly 2.3 billion people globally, 85% of which live in conflict zones, are unable to afford food, causing millions to suffer from hunger. 

   These issues are not only prevalent within developing countries, but can also be seen in communities across the U.S.. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 33% of all food products go uneaten, with this percentage increasing to 40% around the holidays. 

   So, how are the issues of food insecurity supported by the U.S. government? Various nutrition programs throughout the U.S., funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), help millions of families to increase food security. But due to the recent federal government shutdown, 33.7% respondents of the GFAPS who indicated they participated in a nutrition assistance program reported how they expect their holiday meals to be affected by this setback. 

   Food production is a long and complicated process. The land, water, labor, and transportation necessary to grow and produce fresh produce requires massive amounts of energy to meet the global demand for food. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) notes how about 22% of the global water used is to maintain food processes in factories. 

   As the amount of food discarded increases around the winter holidays in the U.S., the amount of food dumped in landfills also increases. The U.S. Ecology Center predicts a 25% annual rise in waste delivery during the holiday season. Once the food arrives in landfills, it gets buried under piles of other waste, cutting off its oxygen. The food then begins to break down and decompose anaerobically, meaning it does not require oxygen to perform the decomposition process, and therefore generates significant greenhouse gas emissions.

   The alarming factors of excessive food waste are not easily avoidable, however, with enough effort, we can work towards fixing these mistakes.

   A simple way to be more conscious of our food waste is to be mindful of how much food we are making and how our leftovers are being disposed of. Taking extra time to plan out ingredients can help consumers purchase only what is necessary. This simple planning can reduce the amount of food wasted and the energy expended in production. Waste can also be minimized by saving leftovers, sharing portions with guests, and, most importantly, composting. 

  The issue of food loss and waste reduction is becoming an increasingly urgent concern globally, and must be addressed to combat hunger, depletion of resources and global warming. In light of the holiday season, we must stay especially conscious about our individual impacts on food waste to create a more sustainable world.