Michael Pollan says: take back control of your plate!

To celebrate the first ever U.S. Feeding the 5000 event in Oakland and the launch of the movement against food waste in the States, Michael Pollan has added a new food rule focused on food waste, urging everyone to take control of their plate.

Supersized portions have become the bane of both our health and the health of the planet.  Most of us eat what’s put in front of us, ignoring signals of satiety; the only possible outcomes are either overeating or food waste. Gluttony is never pretty, but when a billion people in the world are hungry, it becomes unconscionable.  So if you’re serving yourself, take no more than you know you can finish; err on the side of serving yourself too little, since you can always go back for seconds. When you’re at a restaurant that serves Brobdingnagian portions, tell your server you’d prefer a modest serving and the option of asking for more if it doesn’t satisfy. To let others manipulate you by overfilling your plate is a wasteful concession to marketing and the very opposite of conscious eating. We need a movement to make reasonable portions and “seconds” the norm in restaurants. That way, the restaurant can still offer the perceived value of “all you can eat” but without the inevitable waste. 

We hope that this inspires people to act mindfully when confronted with the unmanageably huge portion sizes that they routinely get presented with, but also to become active citizens and agents for change by actually voicing their distaste for oversized portions in restaurants, cafes, supermarkets, homes and at events. This is a key part of the fight against food waste and a move towards a better food system and food culture.

So next time you are given too much, give your ‘feed’ back, literally!