Don’t Toss That Sour Milk! And Other Tips To Cut Kitchen Food Waste

As we show in the video above, this is what chef Dan Barber demonstrated earlier this year, when he temporarily turned Blue Hill, his Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City, into an incubator for garbage-to-plate dining.

Barber’s intent was to raise awareness about the vast issue of food waste. As we’ve reported, an estimated 133 billion pounds of food is wasted in the U.S. each year. The typical American family tosses out about $1,500 of food yearly.

All this wasted food is the largest component of solid waste in our landfills, and when it rots, it emits methane — a potent greenhouse gas linked to climate change.

I talked to Dana Gunders of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Her new book, Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook, which is out this month, is full of tips for tackling food waste at home. An edited transcript of our conversation follows.

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