Spring Break
Bread wasting: the slippery slope to a moral decline
BEHIND BLUE EYES
Ken Lotich
Spartan Daily Opinion Editor
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I never thought I'd find mine in a trashcan at an undisclosed apartment.
The question I've begun to ask many sprung from what I found there.
What I discovered was a long, clear orange plastic bag with two pieces of bread in it.
Upon further inspection, I realized that the expiration date hadn't passed and the bread had no visible molding or other signs of trauma.
Then I realized why the bread had been shunned - the two pieces of bread were heels.
No, wrestling fans, I'm not talking about Triple H or Kane. I'm talking about what could be characterized as the redheaded stepchild of the bread family.
Heels. Ends. Whatever you call them - they have many names but are of little use to many.
So, the question was formulated: "When you're finished with a loaf of bread, do you throw away the ends?"
Like free AOL discs in the mail, the ends of bread are unwanted and the easy thing to do is to toss them out.
Although this question may be seen as trivial, I think it can say a lot about one's character and is a reflection of the American culture's wastefulness.
I began my interrogation.
I talked to my peers, my co-workers and my friends. At first, the question earned me some odd glances and hesitation.
"Well ... sometimes I throw them away," a co-worker said. "I guess it depends how hungry I am or how much money I don't have. I never really thought about it before."
Others were quick to respond.
"No, man, that's totally another sandwich," one friend said.
A six-minute phone call later, he told me that his girlfriend threw away the ends.
Damn, I thought. If this is done consistently, that has to be a lot of wasted dough.
"I don't like the way the ends taste," one tosser told me.
I've seen people eat seaweed before - the bread can't be that bad, I thought.
To clarify, I wasn't really a fan of the ends of a loaf of bread when I was growing up - but I didn't throw them away then, and I don't throw them away now.
When I was a child, if the situation presented itself with an end in the realm, I'd make my bologna-and-cheese sandwich with an end and a regular piece of bread. Better to take half the agony, my 8-year-old brain told me. I sure as hell knew I wasn't going to waste perfectly good food.
Growing up, Mom taught me to eat everything on my plate. Don't take more than you need. Don't waste.
Every few times I actually grab a bite to eat at the Dining Commons or any other all-you-can-eat establishment, I am hesitant to throw a bunch of food on my tray.
Same goes with regular restaurants: if I can't finish my plate, I request a doggy bag and those leftovers become tomorrow's lunch.
As further questioning proceeded, the other excuses from the disposers came in.
"They are not the same size as the other slices of bread, and they taste bad," said another tosser.
In addition to the less-than-satisfactory taste, now I was being told the irregular measurements of the ends of the bread was reason enough to toss it.
I'd heard enough. The people who had simply tossed the ends outnumbered those who salvaged them.
All of this information was setting in and I was trying to see if anything could be done to sway these wasters to better use this breed of bread for something.
I started to think like Bubba from the movie "Forrest Gump." Bread soup, bread and potatoes, bread pudding ...
But this was to no avail - I realized that people had been raised with these values. Trying to get people to change their ways would take some time, but I felt good knowing that maybe I could open some eyes to this wastefulness.
The bread ends were just a part of the bigger picture.
We have it so good here. We have so many options and privileges.
Some of the most ordinary things we have - a roof over our heads, clean water, electricity - are all taken for granted.
Not everyone is this lucky.
Thousands of people die every day from starvation; billions live in poverty.
And here lies two pieces of bread in the trash.
Don't continue the wasteful ways of the stereotypical American - do something with that bread.
Ken Lotich is the Spartan Daily opinion editor.
"Behind Blue Eyes" appears every Thursday.
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