A Little Tale Of Ugly Bananas
When I Went Full Bananas With Food Waste
'Finish all your food on the plate!' Don't all mothers in the world say it? Whether we take it for granted or not, isn't there more to the saying? We shouldn't waste our food.
But today I saw 'a crime' that I shouldn't have seen. A box of overripe bananas almost ended up in the bin.
Don't blame my vegan instinct if I shamed the suspect, a local fruit shop owner when I caught him threw away bananas like they were nothing for him. Today I saw him, with my own eyes really, throwing away bananas more like a criminal than a champion.
With a box of full overripe bananas, you sneaked out to the back room of your shop. I went full bananas when I found out the fruit shop owner had plotted to abandon those poor all kinds of vitamin resources without me knowing it all.
I could only imagine, if I didn' save them from the darkness of the dingy backroom and the stinky bin, the following morning, they would have ended up in the garbage truck. But no! I wouldn't say goodbye to those bananas.
But he said, 'No one buys ugly bananas!' Excuse me, do you mean overripe bananas? You know that, don't you? You can do a thousand things with overripe bananas. Just Google it: what can you do with overripe bananas? In fact, according to taste website, you can make 66 things to bake with overripe bananas: banana caramel slice, banana coconut Nutella bread, banana bread brekkie bowl, wholesome hummingbird cake, caramel cream tart. I am catching a breath here because the list goes on. You can go banana with bananas.
Here are some benefits of bananas according to health exchange Singapore website: Vitamin B6; produce red blood cells, source of energy, amino acids, detox harmful chemicals from liver and kidney, and keep your nervous system under control, vitamin C; protect your body from cell and tissue damage, help to absorb iron, help to generate collagen that holds skin, bones, and body together, produce serotonin to support your brain health, stress and pain, potassium; for your heart health and blood pressure.
Don't you know, my beloved fruit shop owner? According to Ozharvest website, an organisation who cares so much about food waste in Australia. There is enough food in the world to feed everyone but one-third of food are wasted with an estimation of around 1.3 million tonnes of food. But one in nine people doesn't have enough food to eat. 793 million people are undernourished. If we could save one-quarter of the food, we could feed 870 million hungry people. Note it down, my beloved local fruit shop: you contribute to the waste of almost half of all fruit and vegetables produced. Food waste causes 8% of greenhouse gas heat.
While in Australia, Ozharvest clearly states that the Government estimates food waste costs the Australian economy $20 billion each year. We throw away 5 million tonnes of food in the landfill — it's the size of 9,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. It's sad to say that that one in five shopping bags ends up in the bin, which is $3,800 worth of groceries per household each year. 35% of food ends up in the trash. The number is close to four million people experience food insecurity each year; one quarter is children. Over 710,000 people rely on food relief each month; one quarter is children. Regional and remote communities are being hit the hardest and are a third more likely to experience food insecurity than those living in capital cities. Leave the box to me.
I'll bake him a loaf of vegan banana bread, cruelty-free. So he can enjoy a toasted slice of it on his plate in the morning. Don't thank me. Thank the ugly bananas.