On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend a talk by Frank Rossi at the Bethe House on food. Among the various ideas presented in the talk, a couple of thoughts including food waste, the value of food within cultures was especially memorable. Especially regarding professor Rossi’s discussion on food waste and how we need to stop wasting food, I thought about my own roots and how my culture perceives the value of food. In Asia, many people talk about food as something precious and how we cannot waste even one grain of rice because farmers dedicate so many hours to the production. However, nations have become much more westernized in the past few decades and many Generation Z people are direct contributors to the problem of food waste that so many people have taken on seriously from generations ago. While institutions like Cornell have taken strands to lessen food waste on campus, much of these solutions are solely psychological and do not directly affect the mindset of students. Even if dining halls now have less food waste, the essence of “how students eat and waste food” has remained the same. There should be more explicit movements for students to understand the significance of food waste, so that Cornelians will be able to take responsible action once we are in the workforce and beyond.
Rose Scholars Fall 2019
Endless possibilities
