减少剩饭剩菜

Reducing leftovers

刘立军 供稿

TRANSCRIPT

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

When restaurants first shut down early in the pandemic, Americans raided grocery stores. They started cooking more at home - and, presumably, generating more leftovers. Those leftovers can be a convenient future meal - but they've also got a dark side.

"There's a tendency that if you put an item on a plate that's a leftover, there's a higher probability that you're not going to fully consume that item. And so it's probably going to go to waste."

Brian Roe, an applied economist at the Ohio State University. He and his colleagues recently studied leftovers and food waste by tracking the eating habits of 18 men and women in Baton Rouge, La. The participants tracked what they ate using an iPhone app. And during the weeklong study, the study subjects collectively piled 1,200 different foods on their plates.

After analyzing what got eaten, saved or thrown away, the researchers found that leftovers were more likely to be picked at and not fully eaten –which is a finding we can all probably identify with.

But they also observed that leftovers - perhaps due to being older and less fresh - directed diners' attention to the other, more novel items on their plate, which brings up an interesting possible strategy to get people to eat their veggies.

"I guess if you have an item that you don't normally eat as much of, and you're trying to get people to eat their peas, perhaps surrounding it with leftovers is a way to make them focus on the newest item on the plate."

The findings are in the journal PLOS ONE.

Overall, Roe says one bigger lesson emerged on how to avoid scraping perfectly good food into the trash.

"So for us, the real take-home here was: choose a smaller meal, and you're less likely to generate leftovers. And that's a good thing because leftovers, all else equal, tend to be wasted more often."

Not that Roe doesn't have a few aspirational Tupperware (食物保鲜容器品牌) sitting around.

"I'm guilty of this myself: we have things left over from last Thanksgiving still sitting in our freezer. And I know people who've moved with frozen items before - without ever getting around to eating them."

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

VOCABULARY

1. raid v. to enter a place, usually using force, and steal from it 劫掠；打劫

2. leftover n. food that has not been eaten at the end of a meal 吃剩的食物；残羹剩饭

3. aspirational adj. wanting very much to achieve success in your career or to improve your social status and standard of living 渴望成功的；一心想提高社会地位和生活水平的

QUESTIONS

Read the passage. Then listen to the news and fill in the blanks with the information (words, phrases or sentences) you hear.

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

When restaurants first shut down early in the pandemic, Americans (Q1) __________ grocery stores. They started cooking more at home - and, presumably, generating more leftovers. Those leftovers can be a (Q2) ___________ future meal - but they've also got a dark side.

"There's a tendency that if you put an item on a plate that's a leftover, there's a higher probability that you're not going to fully (Q3) ______________ that item. And so it's probably going to go to waste."

Brian Roe, an applied economist at the Ohio State University. He and his colleagues recently studied leftovers and food waste by (Q4) _____________________________________ of 18 men and women in Baton Rouge, La. The participants tracked what they ate using an iPhone app. And during the (Q5) __________ study, the study subjects collectively piled 1,200 different foods on their plates.

After analyzing what got eaten, saved or thrown away, the researchers found that leftovers were more likely to be picked at and not fully eaten – which is a finding we can all probably identify with.

But they also observed that leftovers - perhaps due to being (Q6) ________________ - directed diners' attention to the other, more novel items on their plate, which brings up an interesting possible strategy to get people to eat their veggies.

"I guess if you have an item that you don't normally eat as much of, and you're trying to get people to eat their (Q7) ___________, perhaps surrounding it with leftovers is a way to make them focus on the newest item on the plate."

The findings are in the journal PLOS ONE.

Overall, Roe says one bigger lesson emerged on how to (Q8) _______________________.

"So for us, the real take-home here was: (Q9) ___________________, and you're less likely to generate leftovers. And that's a good thing because leftovers, all else equal, tend to be wasted more often."

Not that Roe doesn't have a few aspirational Tupperware sitting around.

"I'm guilty of this myself: we have things left over from last Thanksgiving still sitting in our freezer. And I know people who've moved with (Q10) ____________________________ before - without ever getting around to eating them."

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

KEY

Read the passage. Then listen to the news and fill in the blanks with the information (words, phrases or sentences) you hear.

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

When restaurants first shut down early in the pandemic, Americans (Q1) raided grocery stores. They started cooking more at home - and, presumably, generating more  leftovers. Those leftovers can be a (Q2)convenient future meal - but they've also got a dark side.

"There's a tendency that if you put an item on a plate that's a leftover, there's a higher probability that you're not going to fully (Q3) consume that item. And so it's probably going to go to waste."

Brian Roe, an applied economist at the Ohio State University. He and his colleagues recently studied leftovers and food waste by (Q4) tracking the eating habits of 18 men and women in Baton Rouge, La. The participants tracked what they ate using an iPhone app. And during the (Q5) weeklong study, the study subjects collectively piled 1,200 different foods on their plates.

After analyzing what got eaten, saved or thrown away, the researchers found that leftovers were more likely to be picked at and not fully eaten – which is a finding we can all probably identify with.

But they also observed that leftovers - perhaps due to being (Q6) older and less fresh - directed diners' attention to the other, more novel items on their plate, which brings up an interesting possible strategy to get people to eat their veggies.

"I guess if you have an item that you don't normally eat as much of, and you're trying to get people to eat their (Q7) peas, perhaps surrounding it with leftovers is a way to make them focus on the newest item on the plate."

The findings are in the journal PLOS ONE.

Overall, Roe says one bigger lesson emerged on how to (Q8) avoid scraping perfectly good food into the trash.

"So for us, the real take-home here was: (Q9) choose a smaller meal, and you're less likely to generate leftovers. And that's a good thing because leftovers, all else equal, tend to be wasted more often."

Not that Roe doesn't have a few aspirational Tupperware sitting around.

"I'm guilty of this myself: we have things left over from last Thanksgiving still sitting in our freezer. And I know people who've moved with (Q10) frozen items before - without ever getting around to eating them."

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

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