Unlike many journalists who finish a project and immediately move on to another subject, Jonathan Bloom took a story about food waste and practically turned the experience into a career.
Bloom, 33, was a journalism graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill when he wrote a long-form story about a volunteer gleaner with the Society of St. Andrew in the Triangle. From there, Bloom created a blog, wastedfood.com, and a just-released book, "American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of its Food (and what we can do about it)."
Bloom, who lives in Durham, will give several readings in the Triangle in the coming week. In an interview, he described his experience with St. Andrew, a group that gleans food from farm fields, as his "first real hands-on introduction to recovering food."
'I kept volunteering'
He was hooked. "After the story was finished, I kept volunteering with them," he said.
From that experience he built the wasted food blog as a tool toward landing a book deal. It worked.
After he was quoted in a New York Times story about food waste, Bloom hooked up with an agent, then got a book contract. Released a couple of weeks ago, "American Wasteland" has received positive reviews from Publisher's Weekly and Booklist.
Using EPA figures as a base, Bloom calculated that Americans waste half a pound of food per person each day. "There's no other problem in America that seems easier to fix," he said.
Food is wasted in America for a variety of reasons, Bloom said. Stores toss away produce and canned goods that don't appear absolutely perfect. For the average American, food is abundant and inexpensive. "We don't really value things that are cheap," he said.
Lost tricks of trade
Plus, as people lead busier lives, they have less time to cook and spend less time in the kitchen. So food knowledge isn't passed down to younger generations.
"We lose those little tricks of the trade," he said, such as repurposing leftovers.
Bloom argues that people should be more careful with food in part because it is morally callous to throw out food when some people struggle to put it on the table. Food waste ends up in landfills, which isn't good for the environment. And throwing away food is a waste of money.
"Why would you throw it away when you spent good money on it?" he said.
Bloom suggests that meal planning is a good way to cut down on wasted food. Serve reasonable portions and save leftovers. And if you're not going to cook, don't buy groceries as if you will.
"When you're at the supermarket," he said, "be honest with yourself."
