INUVIK
A documentary shown at the Aurora Research Institute left a bad taste in the audience's mouth on Oct. 25.

Laura Worsley-Brown, left, and Sheena Adams of the Arctic Energy Alliance hold up examples of food that is likely still edible but is being wasted much of the time, before a screening of the documentary Just Eat It on Oct. 25. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story by Grant Baldwin and Jenny Rustmeyer, traces the couple as they spend six months eating only food that is thrown out or removed from shelves because it's not "visually aesthetic or perfect to view."

In the process, they trace the staggering amount of food that is squandered even before it reaches consumers, not to mention what consumers themselves waste.

Far from going hungry, Baldwin and Rustmeyer found they had huge surpluses of food on hand, although it was often limited in variety.

The couple spent $200 on food between the two of them over the course of the six-month project, which is difficult to believe for most people.

Nor were they subsisting on "table scraps," as some of their friends and family initially thought. Baldwin and Rustmeyer instead were "rescuing" food from dumpsters, mostly near grocery stores and restaurants, that didn't meet the visual standards of sellers or were past their "best before" dates.

"The question," Baldwin stated early in the documentary, "is whether you can still eat this food."

The unequivocal answer is yes.

The film was presented by Sheena Adams of the Arctic Energy Alliance, who noted food quality, security and pricing are huge issues in the North.

One of her most provocative questions came after the movie, when she asked the sparse audience of about 10 people whether they thought Northern residents waste as much food as was shown in the film.

She suggested, considering the cost of food locally and the scarcity of items such as good quality produce, that perhaps Northerners are more careful with what they buy.

No one in the audience bought into that concept. Everyone suggested there is just as much wastage here as anywhere else per person.

The follow-up discussion touched on some points made in the documentary, namely that most people have bought into a "culture of abundance" where controlling and reducing the amount of food purchased isn't really a consideration. Instead, there isn't much, if any, stigma, to throwing away food.

The film suggested anywhere from 25 per cent to 60 per cent of food often goes wasted once it reaches the consumer.

"It's like buying four bags of groceries and dropping one and not picking it up," said Dana Gunders, a project scientist from San Francisco.

That's a small amount compared to the food at the growing and manufacturing end that doesn't even make it to market, Baldwin and Rustmeyer discover in the film.

Cosmetic standards are so high that fruits and vegetables with blemishes, in particular, won't be accepted by wholesalers. There's little to no market for this kind of perfectly edible but substandard produce, and much of it is thrown out.

Other produce, such as celery, is afflicted by vast amounts of wastage because harvesters literally cut them down to a size standard desired by grocery stores.

Part of the problem, the film suggested, is that Canadian and North America society is wealthy enough that a majority of people have the means to buy the makings of a whole new meal every day if they want, and many do.

One food expert in the film suggested the most humiliating event imaginable in developed societies such as North America would be to host some kind of a party and run out of food. Combined with "portion distortion," where people fill their plates with more food than they can eat, a vast amount of wastage is created.

To punctuate that point, Adams went through a garbage container at the research institute from an event a few days before and conducted an inventory.

The garbage was full of half-used food items, including pizza.

"And I love pizza," Adams said with a clear hint of irritation.

She had also collected a variety of discounted and expired food items from the NorthMart store that were on sale, indicating that most would still be safe to use.

Interestingly, only a few people turned their noses up at the idea.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.