Back in the '60s, the popular cartoon The Jetsons gave us an amusing view of what life in the 21st century might look like. Flying cars, household robot maids, houses in the sky, push-button ovens that delivered pre-cooked food straight to the table. Far-fetched, perhaps, but anything seemed possible in the bright future.
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Most of the antics of the mid-20th century George Jetson and his family have never come to pass, but we're veering dangerously close to at least one of them.
A stroll through the alleged 'fresh produce' section of one of the major supermarkets and one might expect to see Jane Jetson zipping around on her hoverscooter buying the family's evening meal. At a time when most people are trying to reduce plastic waste, someone in marketing has decided it's a good idea for supermarkets to prepackage fresh food in plastic. Not just prepackage it, but peel, slice, dice and cook it for you too.
Think of the advantages: no more messy potato peelers or mashers clogging up the drawers; no more sharp vegie knives posing a hazard to fingers; no need to look at a pesky and confusing carrot or a zucchini and wonder, what do I do with this now? The supermarket has taken all that inconvenience out of your hands and, for a simple exchange of money, you can take home your potato cooked, mashed and microwave-ready.
Has the world gone stark staring mad? How incompetent or lazy have we become? (These are rhetorical questions, by the way, please don't bother replying.) Convenience is fine, but fresh vegies pre-cut/peeled/sliced/diced are not fresh. They are a sign of a society that has lost touch with the value of food.
Australia wastes more food per capita than any other country in the world: about $8 billion dollars worth a year. Get your head around that. Additionally, each and every one of us (on average) produces around 1.5 tonnes of plastic waste every year.
Buying pre-prepared vegetables in plastic boxes can only contribute to both streams of waste. Buying fresh food from the markets, or direct from the grower, or even growing your own will reduce waste on both counts. It also tastes better and keeps longer.
Yes, you may have to get your hands dirty peeling a spud, but their is an integrity in cooking a meal from scratch that we lose when we cave in to the god of convenience. Food and cooking are part of our culture and to lose that is to lose a part of ourselves.
