Here in the Bay Area, we have hundreds of wonderful restaurants, from inexpensive ethnic cafes to luxurious establishments good for those once-in-a-decade splurges. And often the servings are so generous we can’t eat them all.

The sensible thing to do is to take home the extras. But what kind of packaging to use? Typically the restaurant decides and not all of them are conscious about waste. Sometimes I’ve been given my take-home on a heavy-duty plate, covered in aluminum foil, and placed in a paper bag.

Not too sustainable! Saving the food from being wasted is good, but it means adding to paper, plastic, and aluminum waste. One solution is to order your meal one course at a time, so you can stop when you’re full. Another is for family and really good friends – share the take-home container and divvy it up at home!

A new campaign is tackling this issue. Takeout Without, started by Lisa Borden, gives tips and encouragement to help cut landfill waste. Do check it out! And an article by Annie Urban points out the shocking amount of earth’s materials we throw away. You’re an earth-friendly person, so if you haven’t already begun raising the consciousness of restaurants, now is a great time to start.

My personal solution is to have a plastic bag in my purse at all times, so I can simply tuck the leftovers into my own tiny packaging. (Obviously this doesn’t work with everything).

Plastic, you say? Reused, of course, from the cookie that comes in a little plastic bag. Try it! Enjoy the cookie and then keep the bag in your purse or pocket. You’ll be helping reduce waste and make our food system more sustainable.

A Green Thanksgiving

Holidays aren’t  the easiest times to lead an environmentally friendly lifestyle.  Yet with a little planning, Thanksgiving can be just as green as any other day in your home. Try these  tips:

Keep it simple – You don’t have to amaze your friends and family with a gourmetspread rife with exotic ingredients flown in from around the world, or with a 6-course spread with choice of 14 side dishes. Most people aren’t looking for novel culinary fare on a day like this – they’ll be happy with traditional dishes that celebrate the bounty of the local harvest.

Buy local – Many of the veggies you need for your side dishes probably grow within 100 miles of your home. Check out your local farmer’s market for fall goodies like squash, greens, potatoes, yams, pumpkins and evergreen herbs like rosemary and sage. And don’t forget to check your local free-range farms for that centerpiece of the Thanksgiving piece, the turkey (unless you’re vegetarian, of course…).

Go vegetarian – If you’ve been thinking about trying out a vegetarian diet, Thanksgiving is actually a great time to do it. You’ll be amazed at how many luscious options there are.  Livestock put a huge strain on the planet, and factory farms do abominable things to those poor little animals before they end up on your plate.

Serve  local organic beverages – Pick up some local libations if you’ve got nearby breweries and wineries, especially if you have guests coming into town – it’s a great way to show off regional specialties. If you don’t live near any craft beer or wine producers, pick up a few bottles of organic brew – there are dozens of varieties available at most health-food stores.
Use what you have – This is one of the easiest, cheapest ways to go green any day of the year. You don’t need fancy dishware – your regular tableware will do just fine. If you’re the Martha Stewart type and feel that everything must match perfectly, consider renting tableware, chairs and linens – it costs less than buying new.

Decorate with natural materials – Skip the cheesy seasonal décor made in China, and take a cue from nature.  Many people like to place pinecones in a bowl or basket as a centerpiece, or wind a string of white lights around some branches in a planter or tall vase. You could also purchase a living plant that can go into the garden next spring, or pick up a bouquet or organic blooms from your local independent florist.

Compost your scraps –  Don’t toss those potato peels, celery tops and carrot ends into the trash! Put them in a bucket along with a handful of shredded paper, leaves or other organic  material (no meat or dairy). If you don’t already have a compost pile or bin, now’s a great time to start.   Another great way to start your composting is to ask  your local coffee shop for their used coffee grounds, which make great starter material.  Happy Thanksgiving Day!

If you’ve been dutifully choosing locally grown and processed foods, you’re part of a big (and valuable) market niche. According to the USDA, the last ten years have seen a surge in the number of farms selling directly and the dollar sales they make to local markets.

Some critics say that locally grown foods don’t solve global warming as much as we’ve heard from the enthusiasts – but hey, there are other issues that local food economies address: keeping family farms alive, providing alternatives to industrial/corporate food, creating sources for organic and unusual foods, and offering meaningful work.

About this last point, Tom Philpott, writing about the USDA report for Mother Jones, ferreted out this interesting fact: “Fruit and vegetable farms that sell into local markets employ 13 full-time employees per every $1 million in sales, versus just 3 employees for their counterparts that sell into global commodity markets. In other words, a dollar you spend at the farmers market supports four times as many workers as a dollar spent at the supermarket.”

Good news in this era of unemployment.

BUT the average age of farmers is increasing. Who will feed us when they retire?
Answer: A new generation of farmers! Might you be one of them? You’d be facing some challenges – finding the land, accessing capital and credit, mastering the complexities of soil, sun, and weather. Having made humble attempts to grow food, I’ve gained great respect for those who accept the challenge.

What if this career isn’t for you? Well, you can support your local farmers by buying at farmers’ markets, joining a CSA, or investigating Slow Money, which brings farmers and entrepreneurs together with investors. You could encourage military veterans you know to investigate this opportunity. As I’ve reported before, there are organizations and resources to help them make the transition.

So Halloween is over and you have left over pumpkins because you bought one too many for carving. How can you use your unwanted pumpkins in an earth friendly, healthy, yummy way? Believe it or not, pumpkins are a good source of vitamin A and vitamin C. There are many things that you could make with a pumpkin, using every part of it. After cutting open your pumpkins you can make delicious pumpkin seeds by toasting the seeds that you and your little ones can snack on, instead of a bag of chips. With the rest of the pumpkin you can make great-tasting low-fat pumpkin muffins to have for breakfast. How do you think you can do this? Here are a few healthy recipes that you can make with your leftover pumpkins.

Orange Pumpkin Muffins
From EatingWell.com
1 dozen muffins
Active Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 1/4 hours (including cooling time)
INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large seedless orange, scrubbed and cut into 8 sections (peel left on)
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 2/3 cup canned unseasoned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar or 1/4 cup Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
PREPARATION
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat 12 standard 2 1/2-inch muffin cups with cooking spray.
2. Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
3. Puree orange sections in a food processor. Add egg, egg white, pumpkin, sugar or other sweetener such as maple syrup, molasses, or agave nector, honey and oil; process until mixed. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; add the wet ingredients and dates, and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan
4. Bake the muffins until the tops spring back when touched lightly, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges and turn the muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Can you guess the topic of the first ever television broadcast from the White House?

Eating less meat.

You read that right. In 1947, two years after the end of World War II, Europeans were still hungry, if not downright starving. (You may recall that as a child, Audrey Hepburn lived in the Netherlands during the war, and never forgot what hunger was like. Later in life she became an advocate for UNICEF).

President Truman was joined in the broadcast by George C. Marshall (of Marshall Plan fame), Secretary of State Averill Harriman, and Clinton Anderson, the Secretary of Agriculture. Anderson explained that to help Europe, “we must conserve at home, both at our dinner table and in our farm feed lots.”  Marshall asked Americans to “tighten our belts, clean our plates, and push ourselves away from the table” as a way to assist our straitened allies. (Please recall that in England, food rationing lasted until 1954).

You can be sure there were other motives besides altruism in the call for Americans to eat less meat (the New York Times story dated October 5, 1947, also mentions price caps and the cost of living).

The article also provides a poignant glimpse into the prejudices of the times. Officials repeatedly refer to “the housewife” as the buyer of food (like nobody else, such as perhaps men, ever bought food), and one is quoted as saying, “It is time the American housewife learned how to cook the cheaper cuts.”  Outrageous, isn’t it?

Today hunger exists all over the globe. You have probably read that one out of six humans on the planet experiences “food insecurity” or outright hunger. That’s a billion people – actually more, now that today marks the arrival of the seven billionth.

What can you do? Some of the reasons for hunger remain the same as they were in 1947, and so do solutions. Topping the list: eat less meat, or none.