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Additional Information
In total, there are 14 marks awarded for questions which ask you to consider both texts; the four mark synthesis question and the 10 mark comparison question.
You may want to use the Note Writing Text Tool to help you with this as you can identify quotes from both texts and place them in the separate ‘Notes’ columns.
'WASTE NOT, WANT NOT'
The Proverb We All Forgot
In the wilds of Texas I once went to a restaurant called the Big Texan. Its name derives partly from the size of the waiters – you have to be at least 6ft 6in to work there – and partly from the size of the portions. The speciality of the house is a steak that weighs 72oz. That is approximately the size of the average Sunday joint, with enough left over for at least another family meal.
Most people give up and what they leave is, of course, thrown away. The whole place is one great temple dedicated to the worship of waste and if you ever feel the need for a swift dose of British moral superiority, I strongly recommend a visit to the Big Texan. When it comes to waste, the Americans are the unquestioned champions of the world.
But the British are beginning to challenge them. An official report has revealed that we waste 500,000 tons of food every year. Now that is not food that has grown mould in the back of the fridge and lurks there threatening to take over the world; it is edible food that has merely passed its sell by date on the supermarket shelves.
It is worth about £400 million and it costs another £50 million just to get rid of it. Here is what happens to most of it.
When we buy our food in the
supermarket we rummage around the shelves to find the product with the latest sell by date. The stuff with the earliest dates is left on the shelf and, because the barmy rules and regulations would have us believe that we shall die in agony if we eat a spoonful of yoghurt 30 seconds after the date on the carton, it ends up in the landfill site. It is shameful nonsense. Every year a typical supermarket chucks out 50 tons of perfectly good food. Still feel so smug about the wasteful Americans?
That food could be used by any number of needy people, but we throw it out. Only a fraction is handed over to charities, who are constantly begging for more. Some of us might cluck a little over the wickedness of a world in which we waste food while Ethiopian children starve, but we get over it. We smile at memories of our mothers telling us it’s wrong not to eat all your dinner when children are starving in Africa. The truth is, we only care about waste in the context of money. Our attitude seems to be, if we can afford to waste things, then why the hell shouldn’t we?
I know a woman who is reasonably well off and a keen cook, who will not use a recipe calling for egg whites unless she can find use for the yolks at the same time. She would rather slit her wrists than throw out perfectly good egg yolks.
But then, she is 70 and, as she says, she came to hate waste during the war years and rationing. She thinks it is plain wrong to waste. She is right.
I am still smarting from an interview I did last year. I confessed to the interviewer that I turned off lights when I left the room and boiled only a mug-full of water if that was all I needed. Could this really be true? I’m afraid so, I said. Such ridicule was heaped on me in her article that I bought all the papers in my local shop, dumped them in the recycling bin (naturally) and went into hiding. If only I had admitted to being a serial murderer instead.
Now, if you will excuse me, I need to pop outside because a police horse has just deposited a great pile of manure in the road in front of my house. It will do wonders for my vegetables and it would be such a waste to leave it there to be squashed by a passing car. However, I shall cover my head with a balaclava just in case anybody sees me with my shovel. They would think I was crazy.
John Humphrys
The Sunday Times, 9th April 2000
The American Frugal Housewife
The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up all the fragments,
so that nothing be lost. I mean fragments of time, as well as materials. 'Time is money.'
For this reason, cheap as stockings are, it is good economy to knit them. Cotton and
woollen yarn are both cheap; stockings that are knit wear twice as long as woven ones;
and they can be done at odd minutes of time, which would not be otherwise employed.
Where there are children, or aged people, it is sufficient to recommend knitting, that it is
an employment. Nothing should be thrown away so long as it is possible to make any
use of it, however trifling that use may be; and whatever be the size of a family, every
member should be employed either in earning or saving money. Buy merely enough to
get along with at first. It is only by experience that you can tell what will be the wants of
your family. If you spend all your money, you will find you have purchased many things
you do not want, and have no means left to get many things which you do want. Have
all the good bits of vegetables and meat collected after dinner, and minced before they
are set away; that they may be in readiness to make a little savoury mince meat for
supper or breakfast. Take the skins off your potatoes before they grow cold. Economy
is generally despised as a low virtue, tending to make people ungenerous and selfish.
This is true of avarice; but it is not so of economy. The man who is economical, is
laying up for himself the permanent power of being useful and generous. He who
thoughtlessly gives away ten dollars, when he owes a hundred more than he can pay,
deserves no praise,— he obeys a sudden impulse, more like instinct than reason: it
would be real charity to check this feeling; because the good he does maybe doubtful,
while the injury he does his family and creditors is certain. It would be better to ensure
that no opportunity for economy is overlooked. Use the shopping list for a family for a
week to make sure nothing – food nor money – is wasted.
Weekly shopping list
Cost
Meat for Sunday, etc. (3 lbs of salt beef at 2½ cents per lb.)
7½ cents
Tea, sugar and milk
15 cents
Vegetables
6 cents
Oil
6 cents
Coal
2 cents
Bread
22 cents
Meat, vegetables, etc. for a stew (six persons)
9½ cents
Soap, soda, and other sundries
6 cents
Potatoes and lard (a "baked dinner")
4 cents
Total expenditure for the week
78 cents
The American Frugal Housewife, by Lydia M. Child 1832
Read the two pieces of text and find two pieces of evidence from EACH text which show why Americans should change their attitude to leftover food. Highlight the evidence and then select add to table.
Q: According to these two writers, why should Americans change their attitudes to leftover food? [4]
John Humphrys
Lydia M. Child
Suggestions
John Humphrys
Lydia M. Child
“…with enough left over for at least another family meal.”
“Nothing should be thrown away so long as it is possible to make any use of it, however trifling that use may be.”
“…the Americans are the unquestioned champions of the world.”
“Have all the good bits of vegetables and meat collected after dinner, and minced before they are set away; that they may be in readiness to make a little savoury mince-meat for supper or breakfast.”
“It is worth about £400 million and it costs another £50 million just to get rid of it.”
Teachers could use the Hide Words Text Tool to allow pupils to insert comparative terms into their answer. Alternatively, they could write parts of the answer and encourage students to write in their own evidence from the texts.
Now you have selected some evidence to use, let’s consider what points you’re making. What does the evidence imply about why the Americans’ attitudes should change? Select your reasons from this list below. Click on the text to highlight and carry forward to the next activity or add your own!
It’s expensive to waste food.
It’s fun to use leftovers.
It’s morally wrong to waste food.
It is hard work to clear up leftovers in landfill sites.
The food the Americans leave over in a meal is enough to feed another family.
Leftovers can be used to create another meal like dinner or breakfast.
Now, using the relevant comparative terms, the writers’ names and the key words from the question, write your answer.
REMEMBER: answers should be focused with 2 ideas from each text and they should be specific to why Americans should change their attitudes towards food.
Once finished, mark your answer using the mark scheme. What band would your answer fit and why?
This question tests the ability to select and synthesise evidence from different texts.
Give 0 marks for responses where there is nothing worthy of credit.
Give 1 mark to those who make some selection of relevant detail from both texts, e.g. because Americans waste a lot that is thrown away.
Give 2 marks to those who select a range of relevant detail from both texts, e.g. Humphrys says that some food that is thrown away is enough for “another family meal” and Childs says to use leftovers for “supper or breakfast”.
Give 3 marks to those who synthesise with some understanding a range of relevant detail from both texts, e.g. it is in their own interest to stop wasting food as it will save money.
Give 4 marks to those who synthesise with clear understanding and provide an overview drawn from a range of relevant detail from both texts, e.g. both writers take a moral stance on why Americans should change their attitudes to leftover food. It is simply the right thing to do to reduce food waste.
In addition to the examples given above, other details candidates may explore or comment on could be:
Size of portions – large enough to feed a family
America is a “temple dedicated to the worship of waste”
Americans are the “unquestioned champions” of waste
Food scraps should be collected after meals
Waste food should be used to make supper or breakfast
Americans are encouraged to recycle food waste.
This is not a checklist and the question must be marked in levels of response. Look for and reward valid alternatives.
