Big Little ThingsThe conversation has begun!
Replate is less than a week old and already we’re getting a lot of props (thanks everybody!), some photographs of replated food from cities all over the country, and requests for stickers are coming in. We’re psyched.
There’s also been some good conversation around the food we let go to waste. And that’s really what the project’s about. Here’s the big issues people have been chewing on:
The idea of food left outdoors feels messy.
Some have worried that food will rot or that rats will get to it before hungry people do. This is a legitimate concern in small towns or sparsely populated areas, but certainly not in a town like San Francisco where, any given moment, there are many people without enough to eat.
Why not just eat your own leftovers?
Of course. Many of us do. But sometimes you just don’t, for any number of reasons. Rather than toss ‘em out, or go traipsing through the city looking for a hungry person, maybe the next best thing is to replate them.
Incompatible trash cans.
Apparently, New York City trash cans don’t have hoods or ledges, so there’s no horizontal surface on which to replate. This isn’t as big a problem as some have suggested. If you want to give someone the food you’re not going to eat, simply put it next to the trash can, or on a newspaper dispenser.
Evil people.
There’s a strange paranoia in the conversation about evil people poisoning the food. Sure, it could happen. But you could also get pushed in front of the subway train. Or someone could put razor blades in your Halloween candy. People could betray your trust in any number of ways but if you ride the subway, or eat Halloween candy, you know that the fear far outweighs the actual risk.
The City should officially get involved.
Some have suggested formalizing a leftovers drop-off point like a food bank, free dining room, or some city-sponsored receptacle. We think that’s a great idea. Make it happen.
We did not invent this behavior.
We observed it, thought it was worthy of real public conversation, and so we gave it a name.
Here’s a few threads of the conversation:
Bake Town
StumbleUpon
Wasted Food
What do you all think?
June 13th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
There’s no need for these people to bash a project just because it “grosses” them out. It either takes hold in a community or it doesn’t. As for rotting food sitting around everywhere, have a little faith in your community members that they will not plop food in an area where no one would even think of taking it. All this project says is, “Hey, if you live in an area where homeless people dig through the trash for food, then consider this: next time just set your leftovers on top of the trash can instead of in it. This may not work, but let’s try to expose this whole hunger issue a little more.”
And if I find a steaming chicken burrito with sour cream somewhere - I’ll do what I would’ve done before Replate - throw it away. Oh and be glad that there was no one around that was so incredibly hungry that they would eat a steamy burrito…
June 13th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
[…] A bunch of “troublemakers who make good things happen in culture and commerce” are drawing much-needed attention to food waste. A San Francisco communications studio just launched a fascinating “food activism” project. […]