With the consumerist culture becoming more and more prevalent, some societies tend to be rather wasteful, purchasing food more than they need and throwing away the remainder. This essay will discuss the reasons behind this behavior and what can be done to deal with this issue. Due to the high standard of living in industrialized nations, people living therein afford to buy a wide range of food items in large quantities. If not stored properly, some of these edibles are likely to perish and a portion of them end up in bins. A further common reason is that a number of restaurants offer an excessive amount of a meal along with different appetizers in a single serving so as to maximize their profit. The usual outcome is that some of the food ordered remains uneaten and goes waste. But how could food loss be minimized? One solution would be for individuals to avoid buying perishables in surplus amounts or numbers. As some foods such as dairy products have relatively sho...