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Gene-edited non-browning banana could cut food waste

theguardian.com

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Re: Gene-edited non-browning banana could cut food waste

#31

Post by [deleted] »

cjbgkagh wrote: post #9
vacuity wrote: post #4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox Food waste will not be addressed properly without cultural shifts. Granted, certain technological improvements may prompt them, but that's a bit backwards of a problem solving method.

I wonder if things like tipping culture will encourage people to eat at home and be more mindful about their consumption. I hate being extorted for 25% tips and then told if I can’t afford the 25% then I shouldn’t be eating out. Kind of how the hatred of dealing with printer companies and their extortionist ink prices accelerated the shift to paperless. So maybe we’ll get to a better state, perhaps not through the me…

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Re: Gene-edited non-browning banana could cut food waste

#32

Post by crazygringo »

This article seems to be (intentionally?) confusing two different things.

It seems to suggest this is about preventing unpeeled bananas from browning (yellow becomes spots becomes brown). Because it starts "Many of us have been guilty of binning a mushy, overripe banana" and continues "designed to have a longer shelf life".

But the actual details are not that. It is merely:

> said to remain fresh and yellow for 12 hours after being peeled

Huh? First of all, I don't know if half-eaten bananas are a major problem with food waste. People usually eat a whole one. And who cares about the peel remaining yellow after it's peeled...? The flesh of a Cavendish banana is off-white, not yellow...

It also says:

> and is less susceptible to turning brown when bumped during harvesting and transportation.

Is that a thing? Bananas are usually hard and green during these phases. If they're damaged so much they turn brown while unripe, I don't think I still want to eat them...

Re: Gene-edited non-browning banana could cut food waste

#33

Post by cjbgkagh »

pipe2devnull wrote: post #14
cjbgkagh wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if things like tipping culture will encourage people to eat at home and be more mindful about their consumption. I hate being extorted for 25% tips and then told if I can’t afford the 25% then I shouldn’t be eating out. Kind of how the hatred of dealing with printer companies and their extortionist ink prices accelerated the shift to paperless. So maybe we’ll get to a better state, perhaps not through the me…

25%? That’s so high. Most places in the USA I feel like 18-20% is the norm

I don't remember where, I think the reason 25% sticks in my mind is because I usually do 20% and tend not to think about it. I did stop going to restaurants because of it but I would still go to fast food / take outs and then they started requesting tips before they even made the food. The increased in cost on top of the tip felt like small scale extortion - what are you going to do to the food if I don't pay. So now I just cook at home and save a bunch of money and I wonder how many others are doing the same.

Re: Gene-edited non-browning banana could cut food waste

#35

Post by GoToRO »

Trying to prevent food waste is silly. There is plenty of food where people are organized and no food where they are not. Agriculture needs stability, you need to be sure that after one year of work, you can reap the benefits of that work. This does not happens in places where any guy with an AK can come and steal your crop. It's like a comedian (sightly obese) said: "my Mom said there are hungry children in Africa so I should finish my food. So I did. Hope that helped" (paraphrasing). The irony is that it really doesn't help. The shortage in food is caused by other problems.

Re: Gene-edited non-browning banana could cut food waste

#37

Post by atonse »

ourmandave wrote: post #18

Counter argument: 40 Recipes for Ripe and Overripe Bananas https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/vegan-menus-collecti...

Yeah I get a little excited when I see an overripe banana in my house cuz I know my wife’s going to make banana nut bread and we’re gonna finish it all in an hour.

Re: Gene-edited non-browning banana could cut food waste

#38

Post by AJ007 »

hx8 wrote: post #22
cjbgkagh wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if things like tipping culture will encourage people to eat at home and be more mindful about their consumption. I hate being extorted for 25% tips and then told if I can’t afford the 25% then I shouldn’t be eating out. Kind of how the hatred of dealing with printer companies and their extortionist ink prices accelerated the shift to paperless. So maybe we’ll get to a better state, perhaps not through the me…

I'm not sure that eating out solves the food waste problem. I'll agree that in theory centralizing food preparation could lead to increased efficiency, but in practice eating out is most often either a luxury or convince experience and emphasizes those two things much more than cost or efficiency. Maybe one day automation can reduce labor costs allowing restaurants to sell cheaper food, but no one has seemed to figur…

Another problem is you have no transparency with what ingredients restaurants are really using. Even if you know today, with certainty, you can't be sure tomorrow. Usually small chains will start out very high on the quality scale for suppliers and ingredients, and then swap them out as they scale/suddenly need to not lose money.

Food is tricky because once you have food processed or prepared, and you don't have the raw ingredients, you really have no fucking clue what you are ingesting. Most people act, and assume that they do.

Re: Gene-edited non-browning banana could cut food waste

#39

Post by neoecos »

vacuity wrote: post #27
marky1991 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the wikipedia article: "As an example of where the paradox did not occur, large improvements in farming productivity (including the Third Agricultural Revolution) led to lower food prices but did not result in increased demand for food. (Demand for food is inelastic.) This instead led to lower employment in the farming sector, which declined from 40% of Americans in 1900 to less than 2% in 2024.[14]" But general…

Thank you for pointing out that food demand is inelastic, that does shift my perspective somewhat. A complication about demand for food is that American culture promotes luxury and overindulgence. Still not elastic, but more food waste than is "normal". In general, buying more food should cause more food waste. > But generally, I don't see the relevance. Jevon's paradox is about lowered costs driving further demand;…

I'm guessing the impact on this from the GLP drugs. I remember a post last week about the impact on the economy of the growing usage of this appetite suppression drugs.
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