Reducing food waste also demands a significant shift in current practices of food production, consumption and waste management. It requires the ability to identify the shortcomings of current habits and attitudes and constant vigilance in ensuring the change in behavior, and not to repeat actions that contribute to the wastage of food. Often, however, our natural defense system to preserve our self-esteem blindsides us from catching ourselves in the act.

Self Justification

Self-justification happens when a person encounters cognitive dissonance, which is the sense of discomfort that occurs when one’s beliefs and actions do not align. When in self-justification mode, the individual justifies his actions in defense of feeling bad about themselves, ignoring facts that validate how his actions counter his beliefs. Beliefs tend to be positive, about the individual and the environment.

Self-justification, in this case, feeds denial of the fact of food being wasted. Most people in Singapore have the awareness that food should not be wasted. However, most still continue to waste food. Self-justification afterward to shun the discomfort produced from the incongruence between belief and actions causes one to never learn from their mistakes in food-wasting practices.

For example, a consumer eats out for dinner. He orders a plate of nasi lemak for dinner but is unable to finish the rice and chicken. The consumer knows that wasting food is bad and feels awful for leaving behind the unfinished nasi lemak, as it proves that he is contributing to food waste. He self-justifies: It was for the sake of my health; overeating can cause me to gain unnecessary weight. The discomfort is now reduced, he feels better about not finishing his portion, and his positive view of self is restored.

As from the above example, there is no lesson learned from the experiences and hence no chance to amend actions. This is a reflexive internal barrier that hinders one from changing their actions.

Preservation of positive self-worth

The need to feel good about ourselves and to maintain it is an important basic need, and it manifests in our food choices as well. This however also inadvertently results in the wastage of perfectly edible food.

For instance, one of the things consumers avoid that causes food waste is that of unaesthetic fruits and vegetables.

A surprising study by the American Marketing Association reveals that humans’ self-perception lowers in tandem with the consumption of unaesthetic produce. This results in misshapen, discolored fruits and vegetables being discarded in the bulk every day due to rejection from produce retailers and consumers. A similar trend is also observed in Singapore, with 80% of consumers rejecting aesthetically lacking foods.