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American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food
What Tom Vanderbilt did for traffic and Brian Wansink did for mindless eating, Jonathan Bloom does for food waste. The topic couldn’t be timelier: As more people are going hungry while simultaneously more people are morbidly obese, American Wasteland sheds light on the history, culture, and mindset of waste while exploring the parallel eco-friendly and sustainable-food movements. As the era of unprecedented prosperity comes to an end, it’s time to reexamine our culture of excess.Working at both a local grocery store and a major fast food chain and volunteering with a food recovery group, Bloom also interviews experts—from Brian Wansink to Alice Waters to Nobel Prize–winning economist Amartya Sen—and digs up not only why and how we waste, but, more importantly, what we can do to change our ways.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published October 12, 2010
51 people are currently reading
2347 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Bloom
2 books4 followersJonathan Bloom is a journalist and blogger who created WastedFood.com. American Wasteland, published in October 2010 by Da Capo Press, is his first book. He lives in Durham, North Carolina with his wife, son, dog, composting worms and many, many containers for leftovers.
Source: http://www.americanwastelandbook.com/ (Author's website, now discontinued)
Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Source: http://www.americanwastelandbook.com/ (Author's website, now discontinued)
Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
July 10, 2021
An excellent, thought-provoking book, written in 2010.
Hardback edition.
Author, Jonathan Bloom (hereafter Bloom) noted that
people in the US, wasted enough food daily to fill the
90,000 seat football stadium, the Rose Bowl! Likely even
worse in 2018.
Bloom noted that food in landfills, trapped heat caused
methane gas & therefore contributed to global warming.
He tracked food from growing, harvesting & distributing to
groceries & restaurants. Farmers were up against time, the
elements, insects, market forces. And a reduced availability
of migrant workers, who were paid by the pound (not hrly)
and made a living going farm to farm to pick. Farmers grow
too much food & restaurants and grocers ordered more
than they needed. They feared having insufficient inventory
or customers would go elsewhere. Too small or odd-shaped
produce, still edible and w/ no insect damage, was rejected,
as time was money to the pickers. And the produce owners
valued pristine produce as did retailers and consumers.
Farmers were/ are pressured to grow perfect produce in
appearance and size. At times crops became 'walk-bys' (left
in the fields: more cost effective to ditch than to sell them
at market), or the produce went to hog or cattle farmers as
feed. Some secondary markets bought odd, imperfect or too
small produce.
Bloom mentioned US consumers got confused by terms "sell
by" (for retailers use only) vs "best-by" (best quality) vs
'use-by" (the date after a consumer should NOT eat an
item). He advocated for groceries exclusively using "use-
by"dates
He shared companies are reluctant to donate edible, unused
food, for food recovery to soup kitchens, homeless shelters
and so on D/T possible liabilities. However, the 1996 federal
law, called the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation
Act protects those who donate good food in good faith. The
exception IE "intentional misconduct or gross negligence."
Cos. w/ self-service salad bars were/ are prohibited by law
from donating these remaining self-serve items.
Bloom made some suggestions to avoid food waste-
1) having recess before lunch: school kids will work up an
appetite
2) using a size 10 inch plate (usually less waste)
3) more closely planning meals for no left-overs
4) neighbors/ friends sharing cost of atypical food ingreds.
5) restaurants re-purposing food IE make chicken salad
from rotessarire chicken
6) gleaming: volunteers removing/ passing on fruit from
a neighbor's backyard fruit trees (w/ permission)
7) composting by individuals, businesses, etc.
8) food recovery from groceries, diners, etc (unfortunately
protein is usually the item least recovered.)
9) batch-cooking by restaurants: preparing food ahead but
cooking it only when it is ordered.
10) having a tray-less college campus (discourages over
selecting food in dining halls, w/ 'seconds' still available)
Revised.
Hardback edition.
Author, Jonathan Bloom (hereafter Bloom) noted that
people in the US, wasted enough food daily to fill the
90,000 seat football stadium, the Rose Bowl! Likely even
worse in 2018.
Bloom noted that food in landfills, trapped heat caused
methane gas & therefore contributed to global warming.
He tracked food from growing, harvesting & distributing to
groceries & restaurants. Farmers were up against time, the
elements, insects, market forces. And a reduced availability
of migrant workers, who were paid by the pound (not hrly)
and made a living going farm to farm to pick. Farmers grow
too much food & restaurants and grocers ordered more
than they needed. They feared having insufficient inventory
or customers would go elsewhere. Too small or odd-shaped
produce, still edible and w/ no insect damage, was rejected,
as time was money to the pickers. And the produce owners
valued pristine produce as did retailers and consumers.
Farmers were/ are pressured to grow perfect produce in
appearance and size. At times crops became 'walk-bys' (left
in the fields: more cost effective to ditch than to sell them
at market), or the produce went to hog or cattle farmers as
feed. Some secondary markets bought odd, imperfect or too
small produce.
Bloom mentioned US consumers got confused by terms "sell
by" (for retailers use only) vs "best-by" (best quality) vs
'use-by" (the date after a consumer should NOT eat an
item). He advocated for groceries exclusively using "use-
by"dates
He shared companies are reluctant to donate edible, unused
food, for food recovery to soup kitchens, homeless shelters
and so on D/T possible liabilities. However, the 1996 federal
law, called the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation
Act protects those who donate good food in good faith. The
exception IE "intentional misconduct or gross negligence."
Cos. w/ self-service salad bars were/ are prohibited by law
from donating these remaining self-serve items.
Bloom made some suggestions to avoid food waste-
1) having recess before lunch: school kids will work up an
appetite
2) using a size 10 inch plate (usually less waste)
3) more closely planning meals for no left-overs
4) neighbors/ friends sharing cost of atypical food ingreds.
5) restaurants re-purposing food IE make chicken salad
from rotessarire chicken
6) gleaming: volunteers removing/ passing on fruit from
a neighbor's backyard fruit trees (w/ permission)
7) composting by individuals, businesses, etc.
8) food recovery from groceries, diners, etc (unfortunately
protein is usually the item least recovered.)
9) batch-cooking by restaurants: preparing food ahead but
cooking it only when it is ordered.
10) having a tray-less college campus (discourages over
selecting food in dining halls, w/ 'seconds' still available)
Revised.
April 21, 2016
I found this book really enlightening and eye-opening. I'm an agricultural reporter and people are always talking about how we need to increase agricultural production and feed the world. No one ever talks about how we waste a huge amount of food. The US wastes about half of the food it produces. This is all along the value chain- in farming, supermarkets, restaurants and at home. At home, the average person wastes about 197 pounds of food a year.
Bloom is a good writer and he managed to shed some light on a topic that could be a little dry. I think that food waste needs to be talked about more, especially in agricultural circles. I plan to read more about this subject.
Bloom is a good writer and he managed to shed some light on a topic that could be a little dry. I think that food waste needs to be talked about more, especially in agricultural circles. I plan to read more about this subject.
February 24, 2021
This is a disturbing insight into the way our society squanders our food resources from the farm to table and after. It is shocking to think that people go hungry when so much food is produced and thrown away.
It comprehensively documents the enormous wastefulness of our society. In addition to pointing out the carelessness of modern life, the author explains how complicated things become when trying to fix the problem. He does go on to highlight specific programs that are beginning to address the situation with some practical solutions and how different levels of government and private companies are beginning to attempt change. He does suggest how Great Britain has had some success with handling their food waste problem, suggesting maybe we can use some of these techniques as a model. There are some good programs that have been instituted out there since the book was written, so there's some hope. The book was a bit depressing, but it inspired me to be more thoughtful and careful about my purchases, and encourages me to waste less.
It comprehensively documents the enormous wastefulness of our society. In addition to pointing out the carelessness of modern life, the author explains how complicated things become when trying to fix the problem. He does go on to highlight specific programs that are beginning to address the situation with some practical solutions and how different levels of government and private companies are beginning to attempt change. He does suggest how Great Britain has had some success with handling their food waste problem, suggesting maybe we can use some of these techniques as a model. There are some good programs that have been instituted out there since the book was written, so there's some hope. The book was a bit depressing, but it inspired me to be more thoughtful and careful about my purchases, and encourages me to waste less.
December 5, 2022
I am a farmer, and someone who produces most of my own food.
I have suspected: perhaps some people take food for granted, of course few now know where or when it comes from, and maybe restaurants are a bit extravagant and wasteful.
But this book absolutely breaks my heart. I can't think of anything that is more demoralizing to a commitment to clean and responsible agriculture. The solutions and shifts in point-of-view that Bloom offers seem too little too late.
And everyone just wants to keep blaming the cows . . .
I have suspected: perhaps some people take food for granted, of course few now know where or when it comes from, and maybe restaurants are a bit extravagant and wasteful.
But this book absolutely breaks my heart. I can't think of anything that is more demoralizing to a commitment to clean and responsible agriculture. The solutions and shifts in point-of-view that Bloom offers seem too little too late.
And everyone just wants to keep blaming the cows . . .
July 7, 2015
This book had the most profound influence on my thinking and behavior of any book I will read this year. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that it's not a classic that I will want to reread in future decades.
I heard about and read this book because Bloom was a graduate student in journalism at UNC. As expected, he's a good writer and illustrates his points with compelling and easy-to-read stories.
Here are some of the really important things I learned from this book:
- anaerobic decomposition of organic waste produces methane, which is about 4x as potent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide. I felt silly for not having known this, but I truthfully hadn't really thought through the chemistry before.
- organic waste that goes into landfills decomposes anaerobically. That's why there are vents to decompress the gas.
- therefore:
- we should not overfarm (easier said than done)
- we should help what we grow get to people who need it, farm animals, compost heaps (where turning it over allows aerobic decomposition), or anaerobic digestion centers that turn the methane into electricity or natural gas.
- we should be easier on our grocers: accept produce that is less than perfect and uniform in appearance, encourage them only to bake bread that they have a reasonable chance of selling that day and then be okay if they run out before our 9:30p.m. grocery run, encourage them to sell discounted foods that are closer to expiration dates but still edible, and discourage buy-one-get-one-free campaigns
- we should plan meals so that we use perishable foods before they go bad
- we should recognize that "sell by," "best by," and "use by" have different definitions, all of which are generous and political, and should guide but not dictate our consumption
- we should probably decrease production of shelf-stable foods (even food shelters are often overstocked)
- "all you can eat" is really wasteful. At minimum, we need to jettison the trays (which reduces plate waste by 20-50%, water consumption by ~3.5gal/tray, and energy consumption by abut 1.5kw/tray)
- we should be okay if restaurants run out of stuff (as long as they make a sincere effort to help us have an enjoyable experience anyway)
- we should appreciate that smaller, more focused menus generate less waste (has anyone else shuddered with paralysis at the number of options the Cheesecake Factory offers? All those options require them to keep the necessary ingredients on hand.)
- LeanPath is a company that produces waste-reduction products, like the ValueWaste app that lets restaurants track the amount, nature, and reason for their "back of the house" waste
- the UK's "Love Food Hate Waste" website is helpful
I heard about and read this book because Bloom was a graduate student in journalism at UNC. As expected, he's a good writer and illustrates his points with compelling and easy-to-read stories.
Here are some of the really important things I learned from this book:
- anaerobic decomposition of organic waste produces methane, which is about 4x as potent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide. I felt silly for not having known this, but I truthfully hadn't really thought through the chemistry before.
- organic waste that goes into landfills decomposes anaerobically. That's why there are vents to decompress the gas.
- therefore:
- we should not overfarm (easier said than done)
- we should help what we grow get to people who need it, farm animals, compost heaps (where turning it over allows aerobic decomposition), or anaerobic digestion centers that turn the methane into electricity or natural gas.
- we should be easier on our grocers: accept produce that is less than perfect and uniform in appearance, encourage them only to bake bread that they have a reasonable chance of selling that day and then be okay if they run out before our 9:30p.m. grocery run, encourage them to sell discounted foods that are closer to expiration dates but still edible, and discourage buy-one-get-one-free campaigns
- we should plan meals so that we use perishable foods before they go bad
- we should recognize that "sell by," "best by," and "use by" have different definitions, all of which are generous and political, and should guide but not dictate our consumption
- we should probably decrease production of shelf-stable foods (even food shelters are often overstocked)
- "all you can eat" is really wasteful. At minimum, we need to jettison the trays (which reduces plate waste by 20-50%, water consumption by ~3.5gal/tray, and energy consumption by abut 1.5kw/tray)
- we should be okay if restaurants run out of stuff (as long as they make a sincere effort to help us have an enjoyable experience anyway)
- we should appreciate that smaller, more focused menus generate less waste (has anyone else shuddered with paralysis at the number of options the Cheesecake Factory offers? All those options require them to keep the necessary ingredients on hand.)
- LeanPath is a company that produces waste-reduction products, like the ValueWaste app that lets restaurants track the amount, nature, and reason for their "back of the house" waste
- the UK's "Love Food Hate Waste" website is helpful
April 12, 2011
We waste very little food at my house, so I find it hard to believe that Americans let almost half of our food go to waste. The author explains many of ways food go to waste in this interesting easy to read book. One of the big food wastes is that produce never makes it out of the fields unless it is perfect--it simply gets plowed under. OK, I know I am not going to buy any produce unless I am sure it is really good. I love really good produce, fruit especially and I want it to be the best. I carefully pick out the best looking apples (or whatever) and I don't want bruised or anything less than perfect. Just looking good isn't enough for me--the taste and consistency must be perfect.
There is lots of waste at the grocery store when less than perfect fruit or dated fruit is discarded. Many people buy too much at the grocery store and throw away what they can't eat--along with their left overs.
This would be a good book for people at food banks and other related nonprofits to read. It could help them to find a way to gather food that can be used at soup kitchens and for the homeless. A few times I have gone to Einstein bagels when they close and collected the bagels that would be thrown away and taken them to the church where we made them into sandwiches which we packed into lunches for the homeless who were being sheltered in various churches. I went to Panera to see if I could collect their bagels, but they have a policy that they will only donate to a group that is willing to come every week on a set day. So I guess they let their food go to waste often.
Food banks are sometimes notified about food on farms that they could have if someone would come get it, but because of lack of resources they are unable. Families that are looking for opportunities to volunteer could read this book and see how they could help gather food for the hungry.
I have seen people with big gardens that let tomatoes and other good produce rot on the vine or on the ground. Maybe they don't have time to pick it; that can be very time consuming. I had planned to grow extra produce and donate it the food bank, but I found there are a lot of hungry people even closer. We have lots of young families at church where the husband is in dental or medical school and they are living on loans. They are happy to enjoy my extras. Some of my Goodreads friends are included!
The author did have a few crazy ideas like a food czar. We don't need any more czars! People can help people, we don't need the government involved in this!
My dad always used to say, "Take what you want, but eat what you take." Good advice today!
There is lots of waste at the grocery store when less than perfect fruit or dated fruit is discarded. Many people buy too much at the grocery store and throw away what they can't eat--along with their left overs.
This would be a good book for people at food banks and other related nonprofits to read. It could help them to find a way to gather food that can be used at soup kitchens and for the homeless. A few times I have gone to Einstein bagels when they close and collected the bagels that would be thrown away and taken them to the church where we made them into sandwiches which we packed into lunches for the homeless who were being sheltered in various churches. I went to Panera to see if I could collect their bagels, but they have a policy that they will only donate to a group that is willing to come every week on a set day. So I guess they let their food go to waste often.
Food banks are sometimes notified about food on farms that they could have if someone would come get it, but because of lack of resources they are unable. Families that are looking for opportunities to volunteer could read this book and see how they could help gather food for the hungry.
I have seen people with big gardens that let tomatoes and other good produce rot on the vine or on the ground. Maybe they don't have time to pick it; that can be very time consuming. I had planned to grow extra produce and donate it the food bank, but I found there are a lot of hungry people even closer. We have lots of young families at church where the husband is in dental or medical school and they are living on loans. They are happy to enjoy my extras. Some of my Goodreads friends are included!
The author did have a few crazy ideas like a food czar. We don't need any more czars! People can help people, we don't need the government involved in this!
My dad always used to say, "Take what you want, but eat what you take." Good advice today!
April 6, 2014
This book had its flaws (I found it a bit too long, and sometimes he didn't see past his central issue--e.g. is prison labor really part of the way to end food injustice?). But it's also really enlightening and engaging. I did not understand the scale of our food waste, all along the supply chain, not the scale of the environmental damage wrought even by biodegradable waste in landfills. Important stuff.
February 22, 2011
This book touches on a subject dear to me, because I really hate food waste. Having been broke in my life as some of the people the author refers to in his book, I think twice about throwing food away.
I found many of the chapters fascinating, especially the one on restaurant waste.
However, some of his suggestions were crazy-liberal. Right, we need a food waste Czar. That's just great...
I found many of the chapters fascinating, especially the one on restaurant waste.
However, some of his suggestions were crazy-liberal. Right, we need a food waste Czar. That's just great...
September 22, 2018
This book is an all encompassing introduction and deep dive into the various facets of food waste within the United States and various locales around the world. It lays a good foundation for understanding the underpinning of why food waste is so egregious (beyond the simple fact of nourishment being wasted and others starving), the various problems that contribute to food waste - harvesting at the farm, culling due to imperfections, cost to harvest, logistics and perishability, subsidies for mass (2x the needed) production, damage in transit, further culling at grocery stores, prepared foods/hot bar proliferation, potential liability (or thought there of) due to causing a recipient of food to become sick, impulse purchasing, plate/portion sizing, lack of connection with food and so many other components that contribute to this issue.
The author is comprehensive, but almost too much so. Several lines and topics are repeated not once or twice, but three times in the book, causing the reader to scream "get on with it already". Beyond the comprehensive foundation this book gives the reader and anecdotal evidence from not only the author's "covert" missions in McDonald's, Supermarkets and other operations (as well as his discussions with folks industries) are the topics and potential solutions he outlines as a starting point to understand, bring awareness to and combat this large issue in the US and around the world.
From commissioning a new study to see how bad things really are in present day, to bringing a figure head/czar within the USDA (appointed by the President) to life, launching an awareness campaign (akin to the UK), changing subsidies - incentives and penalties a the farm level to lower production - increase harvesting yields and promote donation, to banning or penalizing monetarily food waste from going to landfills and simultaneously launching AD (anaerobic digestion) centers to power our grids - these and many other show a true light and road ahead for what is a very daunting task for a nation of our size.
Overall worth the read, but through page 150-240 it gets tough, power through though as the are good things on the other-side and the repetitiveness does help with retention.
The author is comprehensive, but almost too much so. Several lines and topics are repeated not once or twice, but three times in the book, causing the reader to scream "get on with it already". Beyond the comprehensive foundation this book gives the reader and anecdotal evidence from not only the author's "covert" missions in McDonald's, Supermarkets and other operations (as well as his discussions with folks industries) are the topics and potential solutions he outlines as a starting point to understand, bring awareness to and combat this large issue in the US and around the world.
From commissioning a new study to see how bad things really are in present day, to bringing a figure head/czar within the USDA (appointed by the President) to life, launching an awareness campaign (akin to the UK), changing subsidies - incentives and penalties a the farm level to lower production - increase harvesting yields and promote donation, to banning or penalizing monetarily food waste from going to landfills and simultaneously launching AD (anaerobic digestion) centers to power our grids - these and many other show a true light and road ahead for what is a very daunting task for a nation of our size.
Overall worth the read, but through page 150-240 it gets tough, power through though as the are good things on the other-side and the repetitiveness does help with retention.
November 21, 2017
I really enjoyed this book! It got a bit long-winded at times. But, again, I liked it! It has caused me to reevaluate a lot of my food habits. And it makes me grateful that I live in a city that does composting. And it makes me sick how much food is wasted before the food even enters my sphere of influence at the grocery store and in my kitchen. Unbelievable.
April 2, 2011
As if I was going to give this any less than 5 stars given that it is the first book (to my knowledge) in which I am personally thanked in the acknowledgments. Interestingly, this book has also inspired more chatter on public transit than any book in recent memory. I confess that in each instance I was unable to resist dropping that the author was, you know, a close personal friend. And then I would follow-up such encounters by texting Jon who is, you know, a close personal friend to tell him about it. I think he wishes I could read the book for months to inspire continued buzz.
I don't think I've ever read another book more likely to have an impact on my daily personal habits. Food waste is a problem and a problem I can do something about. I think Jon did a great job researching in interesting ways (working at McDonald's, working at grocery stores and traveling to England to talk to politicians about their superior food waste policies). I also enjoyed the touches of humor.
Strong work, JB!
I don't think I've ever read another book more likely to have an impact on my daily personal habits. Food waste is a problem and a problem I can do something about. I think Jon did a great job researching in interesting ways (working at McDonald's, working at grocery stores and traveling to England to talk to politicians about their superior food waste policies). I also enjoyed the touches of humor.
Strong work, JB!
January 3, 2017
Everything that you didn't know about American food waste and why you should care. Although somewhat repetitive throughout the book, Bloom does a thorough job of uncovering why Americans are wasting food, how much we are wasting, and why we should stop wasting all this food. I heard about Bloom from a documentary called "Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story" of which Bloom directed. There are a lot of similarities in the documentary and the book. The documentary does a great job of demonstrating the levels of waste in the United States (and other first world countries). However, the book goes into much more detail about what you can do as an average American citizen to decrease your levels of food waste and to help your community. At the end of reading this book, your appreciation for food will increase and you will start to see food for what it is: a precious commodity that cannot and should not be wasted when there are plenty of hungry people in need of food (even right in your own community).
November 18, 2011
Very interesting and not entirely disheartening discussion of tremendous waste in the American food chain, from field to store to restaurant and home. Inspiring suggestions to make changes.
January 16, 2021
This is a fantastic book on the topic of food waste! Bloom takes us on an incredibly inclusive trip through effectively every avenue food is wasted, offering insights and data behind the curtain of the monstrously large amount of perfectly edible food that doesn't get eaten. Specifically, he literally gets a job at McDonalds, a grocery store and at an anaerobic digestion facility, in addition to visiting multiple farmers and pickers in their fields, going into an average American home for dinner prep time, tagging along with various food rescue groups, and speaking with restaurants/university researchers/industry professionals/school lunch program directors/governmental agency reps to cover the ground from farm to fork and all branches in between, documenting the loss and waste as he goes.
As this is a personal field of interest of mine, I was quite pleased (well, depressed, but interested) to learn facets of food waste I'd never learned before; for instance, food not being good enough for grocery stores because it doesn't look perfect is a classic. Though hearing the stats that 50% of a cucumber harvest didn't make that cut were unsettling. However, new avenues such as anaerobic digestion facilities as an alternative to landfill dumping as both an energy source and a cutting off of methane greenhouse gas emissions was uplifting!
Thankfully, the book ends with an entire chapter on how Britain is kicking butt in the field of reducing waste via a national effort attacking from multiple angles, followed by a whole host of possible avenues of improvement for anyone or any industry looking to reduce their food waste. For instance: grocery stores may be apprehensive about donations for fear of liability, but there is a law put into place to prevent such litigation - now stop throwing every day's premade sandwiches in the bin, people! Additionally, stores can get a tax write-off for charitable donations, and cut down on (water-weight-heavy) landfill dumping for less costly composting dumping; meanwhile, schools can shave $100k/year by eliminating trays from their dining halls!
Perhaps most helpful to the average reader is the chapter Home is Where the Waste is, which explores an average American household and where waste creeps in, costing the average family $2,200/year - don't you want to save that money? Compounding on that are two full appendices on how to reduce waste - very helpful!
Highly recommend!
Addendum:
Two elements I'm happy to know have come about since this book was published are the creation of companies that make a business out of selling a) otherwise wasted produce (Imperfect Foods, Misfits Market, etc.) and b) upcycled food products, such as chips from grain or drinks from coffee, where something like the husk of the coffee bean that would otherwise be thrown away is turned into a new product. Finding ways to rescue these food waste side streams is a fascinating new alternative method of reducing waste!
As this is a personal field of interest of mine, I was quite pleased (well, depressed, but interested) to learn facets of food waste I'd never learned before; for instance, food not being good enough for grocery stores because it doesn't look perfect is a classic. Though hearing the stats that 50% of a cucumber harvest didn't make that cut were unsettling. However, new avenues such as anaerobic digestion facilities as an alternative to landfill dumping as both an energy source and a cutting off of methane greenhouse gas emissions was uplifting!
Thankfully, the book ends with an entire chapter on how Britain is kicking butt in the field of reducing waste via a national effort attacking from multiple angles, followed by a whole host of possible avenues of improvement for anyone or any industry looking to reduce their food waste. For instance: grocery stores may be apprehensive about donations for fear of liability, but there is a law put into place to prevent such litigation - now stop throwing every day's premade sandwiches in the bin, people! Additionally, stores can get a tax write-off for charitable donations, and cut down on (water-weight-heavy) landfill dumping for less costly composting dumping; meanwhile, schools can shave $100k/year by eliminating trays from their dining halls!
Perhaps most helpful to the average reader is the chapter Home is Where the Waste is, which explores an average American household and where waste creeps in, costing the average family $2,200/year - don't you want to save that money? Compounding on that are two full appendices on how to reduce waste - very helpful!
Highly recommend!
Addendum:
Two elements I'm happy to know have come about since this book was published are the creation of companies that make a business out of selling a) otherwise wasted produce (Imperfect Foods, Misfits Market, etc.) and b) upcycled food products, such as chips from grain or drinks from coffee, where something like the husk of the coffee bean that would otherwise be thrown away is turned into a new product. Finding ways to rescue these food waste side streams is a fascinating new alternative method of reducing waste!
April 18, 2022
very cool book! got it second-hand as an impulse purchase, but I was pleasantly surprised for a couple reasons:
1) Bloom used many examples from his then-hometown of Chapel Hill, NC, and at the time reading this, I was weeks away from moving there! Having never been to North Carolina before, this book was a wonderful prelude to my journey.
2) also very interesting to learn about food waste on the scales from producer to consumer and everything in between
I was generally fairly food-conscious before reading this book, but I have since tried to be more appreciative when grocery stores are out of the ingredients I wanted for the week, recognizing this is the cost of reducing food waste. However, I still sometimes forget about the food in my refrigerator and have to toss it when I re-find it :-( still learning, still human.
1) Bloom used many examples from his then-hometown of Chapel Hill, NC, and at the time reading this, I was weeks away from moving there! Having never been to North Carolina before, this book was a wonderful prelude to my journey.
2) also very interesting to learn about food waste on the scales from producer to consumer and everything in between
I was generally fairly food-conscious before reading this book, but I have since tried to be more appreciative when grocery stores are out of the ingredients I wanted for the week, recognizing this is the cost of reducing food waste. However, I still sometimes forget about the food in my refrigerator and have to toss it when I re-find it :-( still learning, still human.
March 31, 2019
I wanted to read this book because I thought it would give me solid advice on lowering our food waste, hence lowering our food bill. Although it does give some practical tips on the matter, that is not the book’s purpose. I skipped around and only completely read the chapter on waste in our homes. The book itself focuses on our nation’s food system as a whole and the waste that accumulates from it. It did make me open my eyes to some issues and I have gained some insight (I never knew that leafy greens needed high humidity in the crisper and all other fruits and veggies do not 🤣 now I do). Makes me want to be more diligent in my own kitchen and try to waste less than I do now. The book was well-written just not exactly what I was hoping for in my search.
December 4, 2019
American Wasteland is full of useful interviews and information about food waste. Jonathan Bloom takes us through the cycle of food and investigates all stages at which it is often wasted - from the farm, distributor, grocer and in the home. Interestingly, he spent time working at a supermarket and a McDonalds to more deeply understand the commercial culture of food waste. It provides many potential solutions and examples of positive policies/programs in waste reducion and gives hope, while also illustrating the very real weight of our nationwide problem of high rates of disposal of perfectly edible food. His commentary is fact-filled and insightful. It does include a lot of personal opinion and a few rants, so I did some reference checking. Overall, I wrote down a lot of useful information and citations from this story while compiling research on food waste reduction and composting.
October 27, 2025
The author is clearly well-versed and the man did his research. But by page 100, I was still reading about the tragedy of bruised produce like it was Shakespearean drama, its a valuable concept (how we waste food and why), but the delivery just…doesn’t evolve and is quite monotonous. It’s like he put the whole book on a loop of “ugly apples deserve love too.” I wanted more depth about systems and solutions, less grocery store guilt-tripping. There’s definitely good info buried in here, but it’s smothered under repetition. Informative? Yes. Entertaining? Not really. Feels more like a compost heap of stats, couldn't finished.
October 8, 2018
While I enjoyed the message of the book and the author did a lot of work and research to cover many angles of this topic, I felt that it was very repetitive. Over and over again we were given new citations and statistics to convey roughly the same messages over how much food is wasted at various stages of it's production and use. The author does have a nice voice. If you know nothing about food waste, this is a great place to start. If you know a moderate amount, you may find yourself skimming.
January 16, 2022
Reaction: a thorough foray into the the food of USA, everywhere, all the time
Writing Style: well thought out, conversational, and striking resonant phrases
Argumentation: one huge component of climate inaction is through food production, and that really needs the focus of all in order to increase satisfaction of producers and consumers
Commendation: many stories, interviews, and pictures woven throughout statistics land
Critique: why cant we have a food czar appointed at the federal level already
Writing Style: well thought out, conversational, and striking resonant phrases
Argumentation: one huge component of climate inaction is through food production, and that really needs the focus of all in order to increase satisfaction of producers and consumers
Commendation: many stories, interviews, and pictures woven throughout statistics land
Critique: why cant we have a food czar appointed at the federal level already
January 12, 2020
American Wasteland discusses the dire need for change in the way Americans deal with food waste. Bloom incorporates hundreds of statistics and facts about food waste, each more shocking than the last. Bloom hopes to challenge his readers to create change themselves after learning about this imminent threat in America's future. Jonathan Bloom's conversational, story-telling style writing creates a more personal connection between reader and speaker.
March 16, 2021
I borrowed this from the library and ended up buying a copy for myself. I bookmarked so many pages, and needed to transfer those to my copy and mark my book up with thoughts and ideas. Lots of information and ideas on food waste - even a decade later. This is very readable, although the topic is rather somber - nicely done!
August 27, 2021
lots of interesting information
i realize the topic is on food waste, but i think he could’ve done better talking about avoiding other waste too. for example, pushing restaurants to automatically assume people want leftovers & wrap them up. that would mean an increase in plastic and other packaging, and is that really going to help the planet at all?
i realize the topic is on food waste, but i think he could’ve done better talking about avoiding other waste too. for example, pushing restaurants to automatically assume people want leftovers & wrap them up. that would mean an increase in plastic and other packaging, and is that really going to help the planet at all?
October 30, 2022
Such an important book! Loved the content and that he gives specific action points for moving forward and decreasing the amount of waste we generate AND keeping what we do generate out of the landfill. At times the book felt exceedingly long, as he revisits a lot of the same points over and over, but the message is too god to put it down.
March 1, 2025
I had to read this book for a random required class and it was actually quite insightful on the different levels of food waste. From the farmers, to transportation, to the grocery store, to businesses and homes, there are many aspects of food waste, but many actions that can be seen as preventative measures.
May 26, 2017
Opened my eyes to another issue that's out there. Makes me more conscious when I'm throwing food away. Like many of these nf books, probably goes on a little too long. Didn't cover enough territory in its 300 pages.
June 20, 2018
Obsessed! A few parts of this book were a little repetitive and/or not super interesting, but the majority of it was fascinating and I couldn't put it down.
December 26, 2018
A bit repetitive, good information, though I read it probably five years later than I really should have considering much of data is out of date.
July 1, 2019
Fantastic book. Really well researched and a big eye opener. This is also from someone who considers themself a pretty in the know, crunchy, hippy.
August 16, 2019
can't wait to use this in Research class!
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