Presented by Andrew Smith
Culinary Historian, Author, Editor

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Don’t hold your nose! We’re not going to trash-talk you. Instead we’re going to offer you some savory food for thought when Andy Smith, one of our nation’s most esteemed culinary historians lifts the lid on a vital issue: food waste.

Join us as Andy shows us how saving food and preventing waste are crucial matters that have confronted humankind for millennia. During the twentieth century, lower food prices and societal changes encouraged food waste in well-to-do countries. During the latter part of the century, concern with food waste was raised by two major groups: environmentalists and anti-hunger advocates. Environmentalists were concerned with the impact of food waste issues in rapidly expanding landfills. They also identified it as a major contributor to global warming. Those concerned with food insecurity, malnutrition and hunger wanted to recover as much edible food as possible to help feed to the needy. When food prices skyrocketed in the early 2000s due to rapidly increasing food prices, bad weather, and the financial crisis known as the “Great Recession,” millions of people around the world were facing hunger and malnutrition. War was declared on food waste in many countries. Books, articles, films, conferences and television programs alerted businesses and consumers to issues associated with food waste. Governmental programs, organizations and businesses were launched to help recover, reduce, and recycle food waste.

BIOGRAPHY: Andrew F. Smith has taught food studies courses at the New School University since 1996. He is currently teaching an undergraduate course online “Zero Food Waste.” Andrew is the editor of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, and is the author or editor of 33 books. His most recent works include the three-volume Food in America (2017), Fast Food: The Good, the Bad and the Hungry (2016), and Why Waste Food? (2020). He serves as the series editor for both the “Edible Series” and the “Food Controversies Series” at Reaktion Books in the United Kingdom.

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October 21, 2020
7:00 to 9:00 pm
Via ZOOM

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