Planet in Focus 2014: Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story Review

Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story

Finally, a food advocacy stunt documentary where people not only immediately regret their project, but one that actually delivers a clear, coherent, easily agreeable thesis without seeming didactic or menacing. Grant Baldwin and Jenny Rustemeyer outdo their previous look at waste (The Clean Bin Project) with this funny and deeply thought provoking look at what foods people choose to throw away.

Limiting themselves to only eating discarded food for six months – via a combination of purposely asking for foods stores are going to throw away because it’s not aesthetically pleasing, close to a somewhat suspect throw away date, or mislabelled, or via the old chestnut of dumpster diving (within reason) – Grant and Jenny certainly don’t love their job, but despite their discomfort they do an exceptional job of showing just how ludicrous it is that so much food is wasted without thought towards donation to charitable organizations.

It’s playful without being condescending, and every time it appears like a subject isn’t going to be talked about, the film makes its way around to talking about every aspect of food waste in perfect detail without getting long winded or beating the same drum over and over again. More films of this nature could learn a lot from watching this one in terms of getting a message across to an audience without scaring or ribbing them into submission.