Nanoose would not approve

First of all, Nanoose(one O or two?) was what we called my grandmother on my mom's side. She saved EVERYTHING!!! It was quite annoying. But I was always amazed that she could find some way to make it all useful and she never left anything on her plate other than cleaned rib bones. She would be absolutely appalled at this.

I work at Campus Catering and we do a lot of events, but the biggest is football games. We cater a few different events that night and one is the Legacy Tent, where I work. We get a few hundred people in every game day and feed them an awesome buffet, and put coolers filled with goodies at their seats in the stadium. We have hot dogs/brats and popcorn and even more dessert at halftime. And we give them even more dessert during the second half and after the game. It's a fun event and there is a lot of food.

I am amazed at the waste that comes out of this event. Even though we get to eat the leftovers, even we can't finish it all and they still throw away so much. Because we aren't allowed to take the leftovers home, what we don't eat gets tossed. The other day I was cleaning up from an event and we had to get rid of enough breakfast quiche to feed at least over a hundred people, probably way more - just tossed in the trash. And every time I have to do something like that, I think of the people who are always standing at Walmart asking for some help in that department and I think of Nanoose.

We use real plates except at the dessert station, so we aren't throwing away plastic plates. Most of the waste doesn't come from us though, it comes from people who load up their plates and don't finish. I have had to dispose of (we do recycle thank goodness! now I just need to get my apartment complex on board) water bottles or cans of soda that have a few sips taken out of them, cookies with only one bite gone, hunks of meat and just plane trash. It disgusts me.

Come on, America, get it together. Where does all this trash go? I was watching "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" the other day and they just launch all the excess food into a big pile that ends up almost killing everyone in the end. WE ARE GOING TO SUFFOCATE IN OUR OWN REFUSE!!! Now I'm not saying that we need to give up on modern conveniences like disposable diapers, but just that we need to be a little more aware. There is a reason movies like "Wall-e" are coming out.

So next time you are at a buffet, make sure to get what you want and no more, seconds are always available. And when you reach for that plastic sandwich baggie, consider Tupperware instead. If you have a bunch of food leftover, maybe you should go find one of those people that needs it before letting it rot in your fridge for a week. But most of all...remember your grandmother!