Each person wastes 21.7 kilos of food per year: what can you do to reduce it?

First course: a celery salad with blue cheese and walnuts, a bread and tomato soup, or an anchovy and vegetable tart. Second course: shavings of pork loin on creamed potatoes or cooked Catalan sausage with sautéed apple. And for dessert, pineapple carpaccio with mango coulis and yogurt foam. These were some of the dishes diners at Semproniana could choose from on June 16, 2015. It was a special night at Ada Parellada's Barcelona restaurant. All the ingredients the chef had used to prepare the dishes were destined for the bin because they were unattractive, an unusual size, or past their expiration date. However, for the symbolic price of 4 euros, dozens of people enjoyed a first-class meal without any stomach aches.

That dinner was the seed of Gastrorecup, an initiative now in its tenth year, promoted by the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food. With the participation of 64 restaurants across the country, it offers creative menus made from discarded but perfectly good products. The objective is clear: to raise awareness within the sector and among the public about the urgent need to reduce food waste.

The Gastrorecup initiative is part of the "We Make the Most of Food" campaign, which has recovered 20 tons of food thanks to the involvement of more than 5,000 participants, saved 1.49 million liters of water, and recovered the equivalent of €47,879 worth of product. The initiative also included simultaneous gleaning events, which recovered 8,389 kg of food with the support of 130 volunteers, and the "Gran Comida" (Big Meal), which served 330 meals with the help of 55 volunteers. The Gastrorecup program has recovered 11,245.92 kg of food and prepared 4,881 meals in a record-breaking year.

The cost of waste

Every year, 173,961 tons of food that could still be consumed are wasted in Catalan households. The majority of this waste, 58%, is generated in homes, far exceeding that of restaurants (15%) and retail (13%). Each family throws away an average of 63.96 kilos annually, which equates to 21.68 kilos per person, according to [source missing]. Diagnosis of food waste in Catalan households 2024One of the most alarming findings of the report is that 74% of the food thrown away was uncooked: these are products that have gone bad, are past their best-before date, or have been forgotten at the back of the refrigerator. However, simply throwing them in the trash comes at a very high cost.

Throwing away food is not a trivial act. First, it has an economic cost, because it wastes resources that have already been paid for: food that has been produced, transported, and refrigerated and will never reach our plates, in addition to the hours of work of those who prepared it. It also has an environmental cost, because behind every discarded food item lies land, water, energy, and generated emissions. And finally, it has a cultural cost, because when food ends up in the bin, the connection is broken with what has historically sustained our way of life and our sense of community. "When food has no value, it is thrown away without remorse," warns Ada Parellada. "Let's stop respecting everything that lies behind it," she concludes.

The roots of the problem

But why is so much food thrown away that could still be used? The reasons are varied. To begin with, the current food system encourages it. More food is produced than can be consumed, appearance is prioritized over taste or nutritional quality, and commercial criteria are established that exclude anything that doesn't meet the standard. "There are foods that don't even make it out of the garden because they're crooked, small, or too big," says Ada Parellada. Often, it's not that the product isn't good, but rather that it doesn't fit what the market considers suitable for sale. Therefore, the waste begins long before the food reaches our homes.

A lot of food is also lost in logistics. "The delivery system is very rigid," Parellada points out. "If a van breaks down or there's a planning error, that product can be taken out of service," he explains. Faced with any unforeseen event, there's minimal room for maneuver, and often the priority isn't finding a second life for the food, but rather the smooth operation of the system, even if it means throwing food away. In these cases, the waste isn't a consequence of excess, but rather of a system that isn't designed to adapt to variations.

What do we throw away more?

Beyond what happens in the fields, warehouses, or supermarket shelves, a significant amount of food is also wasted in the home. Everyday decisions at home can make all the difference: what to buy, when to cook, how to store food, and what to do with leftovers. "Throwing away food is done with chilling regularity," warns the chef. In this sense, she insists that the kitchen can be a space for real transformation, where we can relearn to value food, rediscover the joy of cooking, and reconnect with the simplest of gestures.

The foods most often wasted in Catalan households are fruits and vegetables, not so much because of the percentage of waste – which is around 4% – but because they are consumed in large quantities. Almost 28,000 tons of fruit alone are wasted annually, according to [source missing]. Diagnosis of food waste in Catalan households 2024However, if we look at the percentages, the most problematic groups are pasta and rice (10.4% of what we buy ends up in the trash) and legumes (10.3%). Tubers like potatoes (5.8%) and nuts (4.7%) are also close behind. Conversely, products like beverages, snacks Sweets or dairy products register much lower percentages: they keep better and are consumed without the need for cooking.

For Ada Parellada, the kitchen functions like a four-legged table: buying, cooking, preserving, and consuming. "If one leg fails, the table falls," she summarizes. Therefore, reducing food waste depends not only on a single action, but on a global shift in attitude. For her, it's necessary to buy wisely, cook with purpose, preserve carefully, and consume consciously. She argues that these are four seemingly simple actions, but that—if kept in balance—support a more responsible way of eating, one that is more respectful of the planet and ourselves.