Cool food concept of the day: ditch the tray

One of my daily stops on the food beat trawl is the Atlantic Magazine’s food page. Great stuff, edited by food writer Corby Kummer.

An executive from Bon-Appetit has an article up today about food waste management strategies. It’s estimated that 40-50% of our food is wasted as it goes from farm to plate – like buying two bags of groceries and immediately throwing one out, writes Helene York.

An amazing tidbit in the article: getting rid of trays at college cafeterias made students throw out less (and presumably eat a little less, too)…

Many college campuses, including George Fox, have eliminated trays to make it harder for students to load up with multiple entrees, beverages, and desserts. When we pioneered this sort of program at St. Joseph’s College of Maine in 2004, Bon Appétit General Manager Stuart Leckie found that the average food waste per student per meal initially dropped from five to three ounces. (Averages there and elsewhere are now generally two to three ounces of consumer waste per meal.) Bloom chronicled that program’s success in 2007: “Without trays, students are realizing they’re full before they’ve taken that second entree or first dessert. Because demand has decreased, the cafeteria is seeing less dessert waste and even making fewer desserts.”

So if you’re looking to shed the freshman 15, or trying to save food and/or shed a few pounds anytime, it can’t hurt to eat only what you can carry to your table in one trip, without a tray.