Look, Earth, because we were very wasteful

The influence of culture and religion on food waste habits of households

"If food waste were a country, it would be the third country on the list of the most polluting countries in the world, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions - after China and the USA," says Prof. Ofira Elon from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management at the University of Haifa, and Head of the Environment Department at the Shmuel Na'eman Institute at the Technion. When we talk about waste management, the task is, first of all, to reduce the amounts of waste. If we understand what makes people spend, we will also know how to give recommendations - how to plan shopping, how to plan cooking, how to show abundance without spending and how to save a lot of money."What is the question? How do different populations in the State of Israel purchase, prepare, consume and waste food?

The new study by Prof. Elon and her colleagues was born out of Efrat Elimelech's doctoral theses research, under the direction of Prof. Elon. "Efrat characterized food that people throw away," explains Prof. Elon. "She looked at what, how much and why people throw food in the trash. And the main finding was that 54% of the food that people threw in the garbage can should not have gone there. Let's say, an eggshell is unavoidable food waste. There is nothing to be done with an eggshell, It is waste and belongs in the garbage can. But a cup of cheese whose expiration date is the day the garbage was sampled is avoidable waste - since the cheese could have been consumed before Therefore, or make a pie from it after the time stamped on the box, and provided that the smell and taste are normal. We found that one third of all the waste was food that was not consumed at all, like a cup of cheese that was never opened. The other third was leftover food - they cooked a lot of pasta and threw it away the excess. And the last third was food that was consumed in part. For example, order a pizza, eat an eighth and throw away seven-eighths The pizza cost NIS 80, they threw away NIS 70."

Efrat Elimelech's PhD under the guidance of Prof. Elon was very focused, meaning it included a systematic mapping of food waste in one population. Now, with the help of a research grant from the National Science Foundation, Prof. Elon, Prof. Tali Katz-Gro from the Department of Sociology at the University of Haifa, Dr. Keren Kaplan Mintz from the Shamir Research Institute and Dr. Efrat Elimelech whose research is her post-doc within the Department of Sociology at the University of Haifa , intend to examine the set of cultural and religious factors that cause households in Israel to throw away food waste Food production requires resources such as land, water, pesticides, fertilizer and of course energy. Even if it is produced on the other side of the world and imported to Israel, this import requires resources. Reducing food waste is a personal, family, national and global interest.

"Our study is the first of its kind that examines the religious and cultural perceptions of the four main populations in Israel - secular Jews, religious Jews, ultra-Orthodox and Muslim Arabs - towards the purchase, preparation, consumption and disposal of food in households, as well as the systems of connections between attitudes, social norms , and behaviors. Our research method is based on questionnaires, but first we need to know what to ask affect avoiding waste or throwing away food, such as the commandment 'don't spoil'. There are also commandments in the Koran and Sunnah regarding dealing with food. Therefore, these days we interview religious leaders in each community before we go to the homes themselves and ask the families What is their attitude and behavior in practice due to these imperatives. In addition, there are cultural characteristics that are not religious, for example, the attitude to eating food that is not A bushel on the same day: there are those who preserve food and even prepare new foods from leftovers, and there are people who would not think of eating the same portion the next day."

According to Prof. Elon, the purpose of the study is to recommend to the government ministries how to reduce food waste in Israel in practice. "We really do not intend to produce a clumsy study that will sit in some drawer. By comparing data, we will try to apply the conclusions from the report to reduce the nuisance, while understanding religious and cultural factors that dictate different lifestyles. Food production requires resources such as land, water, pesticides, fertilizer and of course energy. Even if it is produced on the other side of the world and imported to Israel, this import also requires resources. Reducing food waste is a personal, family, national and global interest."

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