In Pictures

From waste to taste: Brazil’s fight against food waste

Brazilians fight back against food waste by educating the youth and salvaging food.

Inside Feira da Gloria, one of the many local markets in Rio de Janeiro where local farmers sell their wares. Open every Sunday, the market is home to produce stands, tapioca stalls, fish and seafood sections, and more. Nearly 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year, more than a third of food production worldwide. The amount of food wasted globally every year is enough to feed two billion people. [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]

21 Jan 2019

Nearly a third of all food produced in the world – more than 1.3 billion tonnes – is lost or wasted every year.

The amount of food waste adds up to a global cost of $2 trillion and could feed as many as two billion people annually.

When walking along the colourful rows of Rio de Janeiro’s food markets, wilted cabbage leaves, bruised tangerines and discarded fruit cover the ground hidden behind the stalls.

“More than 800 million people worldwide are hungry and the food that’s thrown away would be enough to feed them,” said Rodrigo Sardinha, chef at Rio de Janeiro restaurant Gastromotiva Refectory, which prepares meals for the homeless with donated food.

Brazil is one of the world’s largest suppliers of agricultural products, third only to the European Union and the United States.

In developed countries like the US, most of the waste occurs when consumers buy more food than they can consume, resulting in a lot of food being thrown away at home.

In developing countries like Brazil, a significant amount of food is lost before it even reaches supermarkets and homes.

Of all the fruits and vegetables that go to waste in Brazil, around 50 percent is lost while being transported and handled.

While a lot of the waste results from poor infrastructure and inadequate planning, some food is wasted because of a lack of training and awareness.

“The most important thing is to promote change and to respect the food,” said Deise, an alternative cooking instructor who teaches young children ways to incorporate a less wasteful cooking approach.

Some of her recipes include using typically wasted parts of produce, such as banana peels and tangerine skins.

Maria, who has been volunteering for 16 years to sort through donated food and check its viability, said: “I believe if people were more conscious, there would be less hunger. I think there is nothing better than to value all the food that passes through our hands. Because maybe another person that is hungry is lacking what we throw away.”

Fruits and vegetables have a wastage rate of over 40 percent worldwide, making them the most wasted food. A large proportion of produce is discarded for cosmetic reasons, thrown away if it is too small, too big, too lumpy or has blemishes and bruises. [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]

Food waste also leaves a footprint on the environment amounting to nearly $700bn in environmental costs. If food waste was a country, it would be the third-largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world. [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]

Rosemberg and Maria are a Brazilian couple who have been volunteering for 16 years to help sort food and prevent unnecessary waste. They sort through food donated by supermarkets, distribution centres and farmers, throwing away damaged and rotten produce and packaging the good produce. From there, the salvaged food travels to many different places like community restaurants, NGOs, orphanages and retirement homes. [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]

Maria and Rosemberg also run a daycare for over 200 children who stay with them from 8 am to 3pm. The children are provided with breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner made largely with ingredients that have been salvaged and donated by the food bank network where the couple volunteer. [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]

Mariana Vilhena is a communication coordinator at Gastromotiva, an NGO founded in Rio de Janeiro in 2006. "In Brazil, we are on the top-10 list of countries that waste the most food. At Gastromotiva, we have been fighting food waste, empowering youth and training students to cook. Every day, we offer nutritional meals for people living in circumstances of social or economic vulnerability." [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]

At Gastromotiva Refectory, the chefs make use of food donated by a distribution centre. The meals serve individuals in need, feeding up to around 100 people per day. [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]

Rodrigo, 33, explains the process of using donated food to prepare meals. "At the restaurant, every day brings something new, as we don't know in advance what [ingredients] we will get. We receive a lot of donations that we have to use on the same day, otherwise, the food won't last. From there, we start creating the menu." [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]

Deise Rosa, 59, is an alternative cooking instructor. She teaches young children and families from a community in Vicente de Carvalho how to approach cooking in a more sustainable way. "We tell kids that all the food we use here is donated. The most important thing is to promote change and to respect the food." [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]

Deise emphasises the need to adjust the way we perceive food, teaching her students creative recipes that utilise parts of produce people typically throw away. Here, she shows the children in her class how to make jelly out of banana peels. [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]

Educating the future generation in effective and sustainable food management is a key issue for Deise. "During my childhood, we would ask for permission to throw away a piece of bread. Nowadays they kick potatoes [as balls] and throw away the banana. I have to educate the children so that they will learn from a very young age. They won't need to change when they are adults. On the contrary, they will keep learning as they grow up." [Elia Ghorbiah/Al Jazeera]