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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2012 18:18:24 GMT
Today in Paris, several thousand meals were served free of charge to all comers in front of City Hall, using only products that had been discarded by supermarkets and other merchants.
Frankly, the stores are well aware that plenty of products are still edible, but nobody will buy bruised fruit or vegetables, so they are obliged to discard them. And of course there is plenty of meat, fish, dairy products, etc., which must also be discarded even though it presents no danger to public health.
What is really necessary would be a whole network of restaurants or meal providers who would use all of these products and serve the prepared food to people at a greatly reduced price. I am absolutely certain that there is no paucity of people who would line up for such meals. I would love to take advantage of such a deal myself.
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Post by rikita on Oct 13, 2012 19:17:14 GMT
mr. r. used to work for a "tafel" (a place for poor people to get meals), where they also sold big bags of food for a euro a piece, and also offered lunch for 50 ct per person - most of their food was donations from supermarket of that food they had to discard as it was almost at the expiry date (i think they weren't allowed to accept donations that were already past the date, due to like regulations and laws and stuff)... the place was in a very poor part of town with lots of families living on welfare... ah yes, and people who couldn't even afford the 50 ct for lunch (like people with drug or alcohol problems) could also apply for getting free meals...
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Post by auntieannie on Oct 22, 2012 18:44:08 GMT
ha...here in the UK, because the supermarkets clocked there were "freegans" about taking from their bins, they commonly pour stuff on the edibles and lock the bins in ever increasing security compounds. Officially, supermarkets are not allowed to give food past its sell-by date away either because of an alleged risk of being sued if someone gets sick from it. it makes me absolutely mad mad mad!
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Post by mossie on Oct 23, 2012 7:35:48 GMT
This country has become a total "common sense free" zone. We are bound down with senseless rules and regulations to such an extent that we cannot function properly. The bureaucracy and red tape are totally stifling any little growth our hopeless politicians think they are fostering.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2012 9:02:39 GMT
Supermarket here sometimes pour bleach on the food items they discard in their bins, but at least the street markets show respect for the gleaners who come to pick up the damaged or overripe fruits and vegetables when the markets are packing up for the day.
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Post by rikita on Oct 25, 2012 5:52:51 GMT
wow, pouring bleach on the food is really mean. so they basically want to make sure no poor person (who wouldn't be able to shop in their shop anyway) can get it?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2012 13:55:36 GMT
I prefer to think that it was not just simple meanness that caused some places to do this but more likely a response to the fact that some of these people create a real mess when they are looking for stuff -- throwing things all over the pavement and not putting them back. Since the big store bins are generally in back alleys with not too much passage, they can pretty much do what they want.
There are huge numbers of ragpickers in Paris now who go through the rubbish bins in the evening and they were making a big mess on my street. Somebody seems to have taught them some "rules" because now the problem is not as bad, even though the scavengers are just as numerous as ever.
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Post by patricklondon on Oct 25, 2012 14:08:44 GMT
Actually in the UK there are schemes to make use of surplus food from supermarkets, other retailers and wholesalers. The sandwich chain Pret a Manger makes a big thing out of donating stuff left at the end of the day (that would still be perfectly safe to eat) to homeless shelters and the like, and there's a big organisation acting as wholesale agent for food banks and other charities to use up surpluses (though there is still too much waste): www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/22/lobster-bisque-soup-kitchen-charity
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2012 16:45:13 GMT
Well yes, of course the Banque Alimentaire in France gets most of its free food from supermarket chains and the like and operates free supermarkets where people just take what they want free of charge (with a little supervision), as do the Restos du Coeur that feed poor people hot meals all through the winter months. A lot of supermarket chains are doing the proper thing and helping out -- but not all of them. Lidl and Aldi are reputed to do the most despicable things to food.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 26, 2012 0:11:04 GMT
Well, they have to be named and shamed. That will NOT increase their profits one penny, as poorer people have a fixed budget for food, and Lidl + Aldi don't appeal to the upper crust.
We have a neighbourhood truck that collects uneaten but perfectly good food at Marché Jean-Talon and local supermarkets. I have volunteered (when I have time) at community resources that make use of this food, not only for soup kitchens and distribution schemes, but also for "cuisines collectives" that help people without a lot of cooking or social skills to get involved in cooking and feeding themselves tasty and nutritious food.
This may sound like a stereotype, and no, I am not at all "anti-men", but a certain type of marginalized single men are the worst.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2012 2:54:40 GMT
In my neighbourhood, I have seen several small restaurants which appear to function as a canteen where some older people appear to eat dinner every night, and indeed 95% of them appear to be old men who probably can't even fry an egg.
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Post by lagatta on Oct 30, 2012 15:24:50 GMT
At least thirty years ago (we were young then) one of our friends always ate out in small cheap restaurants, even during a period when he was unemployed. Yes, unemployed people have to look for work, but still... I really don't think he knew how to cook an egg, a steak or a hamburger. (Not all types of steak are extremely expensive; many are cheaper than eating out in a neighbourhood restaurant).
Fortunately, that is changed, and all the younger men - and most my age - know how to cook at least to some extent. But there are still these marginalized single men. Most of the women, especially those with children - and most especially those who have immigrated from "Third-World" countries, know how to use food distributed and staples to make nutritious meals on very little.
Though of course the kids want to go to fast-food places. I've seen that in Paris too; west African kids eating at the KFC on the appropriately named rue Poulet near the Château-Rouge African market.
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Post by auntieannie on Oct 30, 2012 18:22:58 GMT
In my experience, quite a few people aren't comfortable cooking a meal without a recipe and I know several personally who will be able to make something half-decent by following a recipe, but if the recipe calls for half a broccoli a) they don't know what to do if they have a cauliflower instead b) they don't know what to do with the other half of the broccoli except a repeat performance of the same meal.
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Post by mossie on Oct 31, 2012 8:30:23 GMT
I find the most difficult bit about cooking is, opening the packaging. I had no idea about cooking until a few years ago, when my wife's advancing dementia forced me to take over. Not without some protest I might add. ;D Now I can do a reasonable meal, her sister was quite impressed when she stayed recently, but no way is it cordon bleu ;D ;D
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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2012 14:57:12 GMT
Oh, I wasted a lot of food today because the vegetable drawer had gone toxic -- including a green papaya for which I had paid 4.50€. My fault!
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Post by lagatta on Oct 31, 2012 22:03:24 GMT
Oh, that's the pity - and one expensive papaya!
I've done some cleaning of my metal "pantry" cupboard, and will do some more. All those healthy grains can get bugs (and yes, I've been following bixa's freezing tip). Fortunately dry beans and lentils seem immune.
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Post by auntieannie on Nov 1, 2012 11:21:54 GMT
hehe, Mossie! well done to you! keep up the good work.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2012 17:36:24 GMT
I'm making stuffed tomatoes tonight and I always regret throwing the pulp away, but I just don't having anything to do with it, and it really is just a small amount. But since I like it, I just don't like throwing it away.
It's the same for when a dish calls for just egg yolks -- I don't want to throw the whites away, but I just don't have anything to do with them. However, in this case, I mind it a bit less because I don't like egg whites.
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Post by auntieannie on Nov 2, 2012 18:19:25 GMT
are we talking the warm stuffed tomatoes, K? if so why don't you add the pulp to the cooking mix of meat?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2012 18:40:52 GMT
Because I don't need it -- the whole reason I took the pulp out was to have room for the stuffing. I had "farce pour légumes" (basically seasoned pork sausage meat), chopped garlic and crumbled blue cheese to get in those little suckers already!
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Post by auntieannie on Nov 4, 2012 22:08:37 GMT
ah, each to their own, though, as I personally think it tastes even better with the pulp added to the stuffing mix.
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Post by imec on Nov 4, 2012 23:40:48 GMT
I'd mix it with cheese and maybe a little onion, spread it on toast and broil it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2012 5:43:40 GMT
I don't have an unlimited stomach.
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Post by auntieannie on Nov 7, 2012 20:47:56 GMT
if I may, K2 dear, that's a lame excuse! If you don't want to change your recipe, you might want to consider prepping a tomato sauce for the freezer when you make stuffed tomatoes? just ideas. I am not judging.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2012 17:57:35 GMT
Yes you are! However, I imagine that I am actually throwing away about 200 grams of tomato pulp with a market value of 0.02€. The little seedy bits and the clear slime are not what you really want in tomato sauce anyway.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2012 17:48:11 GMT
I just had to gnaw a chicken carcass because I had stripped most of the remaining meat from it and I had no immediate use for the clutter of bones. So I did all of those things that you can only do when nobody is watching -- raked the ribcage with my teeth, etc.
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Post by rikita on Nov 27, 2012 20:28:27 GMT
i loved doing that as a kid, when my mom made chicken soup... well, i liked even better taking one of the pieces of meat she had stripped off, when she wasn't looking, but i also liked searching for the remaining bits of meat on the bones...
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 28, 2015 9:10:24 GMT
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Post by chexbres on Oct 28, 2015 10:15:43 GMT
Happens in France, too - it should be declared a crime.
Some big supermarkets (the ones that can buy in mega-tonnes) have started to purchase food that is "non-conforming" - either size, appearance, the label is a little crooked - and sell it in a special section called "les moches" or "les gueules cassees" ("the uglies", basically). The prices are always interesting, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with the food. If more stores would offer these products, I know more of us would purchase them.
There's an "anti-gaspillage" movement in Paris now, and doggy bags are becoming available in restaurants. If they don't have them, you can ask for a piece of aluminum foil and wrap it yourself. I usually carry a plastic container with me if I know I'm going somewhere that serves huge portions. Good for the diet, good for the budget.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2015 13:52:58 GMT
I know that sometimes there are crops that are of limited interest to a lot of the world and when there is a bumper crop, the extra product has to be just composted or burned as fuel. Artichokes are a case in point, because even if you send them to Darfur, the people there will not eat them.
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