I cook almost every day for Mr P and myself, and sometimes the inspiration to do so is lacking. On these days, I take to the laptop and find epidoses [for the data protection and copyrights police I do this on youtube...] of Masterchef Australia (my FAV) which will always do the trick--I tend to want to make a 12 course tasting meal after watching an episode, so sometimes one can go overboard. On one particular episode, every Aussie's favourite Chef, Maggie Beer, made a spectacular appearance (well she always makes a spectacular appearance). This time, she came with a bit more than just one of her deliciously bewildering recipes, although she wouldn't know it. 

I quickly googled Maggie Beer, to see why I too should be in love with her, and stumbled upon many of her recipes, articles, and affiliations with organisations, one of which is FoodWise. FoodWise is an organisation which helps to advocate the amount of food waste Aussie households get through daily, and advocates for better practices, especially from the individual level. Even Better FoodWise is also part of the Meat Free Monday family (speaking of which, Emma, we really need to get one of those MFM logos on the blog...obvs). 

To further put into perspective the amount of food Aussie's Waste, FoodWise produced a very interesting infographic image that breaks down the $8 Billion worth of food thrown away annually. As interesting as this was, I was then inspired to look for an infographic that would break down the global Food Waste Crisis, especially as the US & Europe are considered to be the largest food wasters, with waste that "could feed three times over" (Taken from The Impact of Domestic Food Waste On Climate Change). Unfortunately, the infographic I wanted to use for this post cannot be embedded, but you can access it here. However, I did find this US-centric one which may have some of us reconsidering how much we buy, consume, and ultimately waste.

We all know that I kind of have an obsession with waste. I HATE IT!!! AARRGGHHH!!! Especially when it comes to food. So I thought for this Meat Free Monday, I would focus on just that very thing that I hate the most--having to throw food out of the refrigerator. 

My friend and guest blogger, Alex L., sent me a link to 27 Ways to Make Your Groceries Last As Long As Possible and thought that I would extrapolate 10 of my favourite tricks of the trade to share with you. Of course, you could just as easily go to the link for the full list, but these are the 10 that I do, have done and will start to do.

We sometimes forget the wonder that comes from the developing world. The innovation that comes from having so little in one's possession, has inspired the greatest minds to think outside of the box and produce some of the most necessary things we find today. As great or small, there have been many such documented innovations, that may seem small at first, but manifest into greater aspects of society that some may find endearing. I find them ingenious. 

Inspired by last month's National Geographic editorial entitled "Joy is Round," Jessica Hilltout captures the beauty of how the sport of football has inspired young people to become inventors by making their own "magic orbs" from old clothes, plastic bags, yarn, even inflated condoms (well at least we now know they are multifunctional). It depicts a message to the world of how Africa embraces football, as well as how accessible this sport is through salvaged rubbish made into upcycled cherished possessions. 

However, this piece is not merely about my admiration for these clever innovators, but relates to my WASTE obsession, and how Waste has given hope and inspiration to some of the most vulnerable people--children. Hence, the rest of this blog post will highlight some of the crafty ways youths are keeping their wonderment alive through the things/toys they build.

I couldn't talk about Waste without referring to some of the most resourceful people on earth. Welcome to India was a three-part documentary on how different individuals from India survived by being sagacious and innovative (don't these words mean the same thing?). Home to over a sixth of the world's population, with 1.2 billion people who live in crowded cities, this observational series hones in on the not only the resourcefulness of the people, but on the resilience and hope that they find within the materials that surround them. We experience/witness Kaale's search for gold dust in the drains in the gold district; Rajesh and Sevita's makeshift beach house/pub; Johora's massive plastic bottle recycling business to support her seven children and her struggles with the local gangsters(one of my favourite characters btw); Kanye's dangerous job which deals with large waste materials in the form of discarded ships he has to cut up for its scrap metal (steel is like gold); Ashik's beef fat business (which is at one point infested by maggots--poor Ashik) which he renders down to make tallow to be used in soaps or cosmetics; Brothers Prakash and Mangesh, who live in an illegal settlement, as they both lead separate paths--Prakash is destined for Bollywood and Mangesh is the chosen child who gets to go to university; Swapan's fish market and his hard work mentality during the large Durga Puja festival--to celebrate the cycle of life; and Sujit's disposable clay tea cup business and how he tries to make this recyclable and highly biodegradable item into a larger business plan.

What follows are the actual videos from each Episode. I can't tell you how much I was hooked on this Dickensian series (of course the Anthropologist in me was intrigued and questioning).

Being in the US (nothing against the US) during the holidays always makes me think of waste. I think of the over-consumption and the loads of rubbish the days after Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the past, and more so recently, I have developed an acute fascination with the concept of Waste. Where does it go? How much do we produce? How can we reduce it? And, How can we reuse it? Between a few of my favourite contemporary mixed media artists and several documentarians this fascination warranted a few posts. Hence, this will be the beginning of a series of posts I wish to blog about on the notion of "Waste" and how this has not only consumed us, but has changed the lives of many--for the better and the worse. 

A few months ago, I blogged about my UN assignment in Suriname (a small South American country to the east of my Homeland). In particular I eluded to the waste management system in the small Maroon transmigration town of Klaaskreek in Brokopondo, where I was greeted by two young men at the back of a white pick-up truck who came to collect our rubbish. Moving forward a few months ahead, there seems to be more and more Waste-related seminars and documentaries that are begging for my attention. Not to mention the multitude of publications, such as the World Bank's recent publication (released March 2012) entitled What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management, which highlights the growth of municipal solid waste--one of the most important by-products of an urban lifestyle--which, at 1.3 billion tonnes today, is expected to increase to 2.2 billion tonnes per annum in 2025. That’s enough garbage to fill the Roman Coliseum 730 times, or a line of garbage trucks 900,000 km long, 23 times around the world. And this is just solid waste alone.