Food waste app

A climate-conscious reporter tried an app that connects eaters and surplus restaurant food. She got bargains, no booze and some pleasant surprises.

"Food waste and I have a history.

One childhood memory, from the family table in Mumbai, still plays on a loop in my mind: “Don’t waste your food,” my mother would admonish daily. “Too many starving children everywhere,” my father would chime in.

Decades later, now living in New York City, I still can’t toss those leftovers. At least not like some of my friends do, with cool nonchalance, or like restaurants and shops regularly do when they’ve prepared too much.

So, I decided to try Too Good To Go, one of several apps that connect eaters with unsold restaurant food. It claims to have 12,000 businesses, like restaurants and markets, that offer surplus meals, often discounted, to about seven million users worldwide.

The goal is to save money, anxiety and some greenhouse gases. Worldwide, discarded food accounts for 8 to 10 percent of planet-warming emissions. That’s because rotting food produces heat-trapping methane gas..." nyt