As part of a current holiday campaign, EatBy App are encouraging families to turn fruit and vegetables into cute characters and to upload photographs onto the app and on social media.
“We want to encourage kids to learn more about fruit and vegetables with their family, and become experts in avoiding food waste,” said Barbara Lewis, one of the founders of EatBy.
Food waste is a problem of global proportions with one third of all food produced ending up being thrown away. Businesses and supermarkets are making an effort to reduce their food waste. But it is up to all of us to make a difference. Supermarkets provide us with perfect fruit and veg because that’s how we’ve grown to like them.
“When faced with a choice,” said Steffan Lewis of EatBy App, “We still pick up the nicest looking carrot even though we know it tastes no better than the wonky one. It’s what we’ve become used to.”
We teach our children not to judge by appearance and that it’s what’s inside that counts – surely we can apply the same principle to fresh fruit and vegetables.
Many of us don’t value fresh, wholesome food unless it’s pre-washed, wrapped and perfect. But we wouldn’t throw imperfect vegetables away if we’d grown them ourselves.
It’s difficult for many of us to change our habits and to start buying less than perfect fruit and vegetables. Obviously some people who are environmentally aware will buy wonky veg as a matter of principal – but we all need to do it. “The best way to change attitudes is to have a long term plan - to educate our children,” said Barbara.
But it’s not just all about accepting wonky food. - It’s about how we store it and how we do our shopping and cooking. Many of us simply rely on our memory to organize our kitchen. But how many of us forget food in the back of the fridge or freezer and discover it too late? The answer is: Most of us do! Statistics released by WRAP show that the average family spends around €900 every year on wasted food that contributes to one tenth of greenhouse gasses. The EatBy App is just one of many solutions available to reduce food waste. Many other innovations are being developed to help reduce the problem of food waste. EatBy, the smart kitchen app, is working on future developments that involve the whole family and helps educate children. “It’s a bit of fun,” said Steffan, “adding the characters to the app is a great way to involve kids.”
Photographs of food characters are appearing on the app and on social media. EatBy uploaded some of their own creations, made with help from Martin Lewis. “All fruit and veg were harmed after our photo shoot - boiled, roasted, blended or eaten alive.”
For more information, visit www.eatbyapp.com