OUGD603 / Moving Image / Food Waste Video / Research

We have decided to change this brief slightly, instead of doing a video to music we wanted to create something with more of a purpose - to spread the message of food wastage and how to preserve your food.

This is a big issue and as a group we are all very conscious of food wastage. 

WAYS TO PRESERVE FOOD:

• Mature, slightly underripe produce is optimal for canning and pickling.
• Ripe produce is best for fresh eating, drying, and freezing.
• Overripe produce is suitable for cooking and freezing; cook fruit as jam or sauce, and vegetables as soup or stew.
• Put moldy or decaying produce in the composter or worm bin!

Sugaring: Sugaring is used to preserve fruits like apples, apricots and plums in sugary syrup that dehydrates the foods. The skin of certain fruits are cooked in sugar till they crystallize and then they are stored in a dry environment.

Drying: This is one of the oldest methods of food preservation. This process acts by reducing the moisture content in the food which in turn arrests bacterial growth. Drying is largely used for preserving meat. However, fruits and vegetables can also be preserved by this method. The additional advantage of drying is that it reduces the size and weight of the food product, therefore making it more portable. Sun drying, oven drying, and drying with the help of a dehydrator are the various ways used to reduce the water content of food.

Pickling: Cucumber, beef, peppers and some vegetables may be preserved by pickling. This technique involves dipping the food in some liquid chemical that prevents the growth of micro-organisms but still maintains edibility of the food. The preserving liquids used are vinegar, brine, alcohol and some other oils. This process is known as chemical pickling. The other way of pickling is by fermentation. In fermentation pickling, the preservation agent is produced by the food itself during the process of fermentation.

Benefits of reducing food wastage:

• Saves money from buying less food.
• Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint.
• Conserves energy and resources, preventing pollution involved in the growing, manufacturing, transporting, and selling food (not to mention hauling the food waste and then landfilling it).
• Supports your community by providing donated untouched food that would have otherwise gone to waste to those who might not have a steady food supply.