Everyday Activist - Just Eat It

Posted on Wednesday, December 09, 2015 at 08:00 PM

Just Eat It

Movie Review by Everyday Activist X CalgaryMovies.com

After a nice break I figured I should get back at reviewing movies, though I’ve been busy applying for grants for a group called Food for Peace as well as expanding their programs. Part of how we keep our food costs down is to use a service called Leftovers. Leftovers partners with local organic grocery stores to take the produce and other items they can’t sell and distribute them to groups such as Food for Peace. Properly managing waste is a huge issue that requires everyone to be aware of its impact on people. ‘Tis the season for increased Food Bank reliance, yet at the same time perfectly good food is regularly thrown out.

The Canadian documentary, Just Eat It, follows a Vancouver couple for six months as they decide to only eat discounted or discarded food. Their friends and family wondered how they would survive and in the beginning the audience wonders too, but as the movie progressed they figured it out. During the course of their experiment, they discuss a number of issues including best before dates, imperfect produce, overstocking and liability for grocery stores. From global to individual scale, they discuss their personal journey and how the experience changed the way they shopped as well as managed food. At the end of the movie they invited friends over to have a dinner made with rescued food. Their pantry was bursting and they encouraged people take stuff home with them. Even at Halloween they gave out rescued chocolate bars.

I loved the fact that the film talked about solutions to food waste such as Quest grocery stores, which takes food at or just past their best for dates and sells it at a discounted price to people in need. To shop there you need to prove low income. I haven’t been to any of the four locations in the greater Vancouver area, but from their website they on the cutting edge as they are first grocery store Canada to offer braille signs and audible scanners for blind clients. As far as I know we don’t have anything similar in Calgary yet, but initiatives such as Leftovers are a great start. I do my best to support them, because if we can communicate value on a small scale, maybe we convince people that a large scale operation would be even better.

Just Eat It came out in 2014, but Canadians have a real treat as the documentary is available for free here http://foodforpeaceyyc.tumblr.com/post/134883419245/just-eat-it-knowledgeca. In Calgary, two film festivals hosted it, Calgary International Film Festival and Marda Loop Justice Film Festival. It has won several important awards and of course you know you’ve hit the big time when comedians use your stuff. Not too long ago John Oliver did a segment on food waste and a good portion of his commentary contained video a good chunk of footage from Just Eat It. http://foodforpeaceyyc.tumblr.com/post/134816393085/last-week-tonight-on-food-waste

This is what a meal made from food waste looks like http://foodforpeaceyyc.tumblr.com/post/134759530305/going-back-in-time-to-november-28th-when-we-cooked We made cream of celery soup accompanied with bread and breadsticks. The pasta, cucumbers, samosas and lettuce were fresh, but the carrots, humus and mushrooms were donated. We made a cake with applesauce instead of eggs. The apples were donated, though the cake was from a mix.