The best part about carving a Trumpkin might just be watching this orange monstrosity, like its namesake, (hopefully) disintegrate over the next few weeks. Trump’s entire brand has always been associated with excess: the oversized ties, the gold toilets, the false bravado comments about damn near everything.

Because I didn’t really have a “classic” Canadian childhood, this year marked my first time carving a big ol’ gourd that has come to symbolize fall…and also excess. Seriously, why do we grow produce just for decoration and not to eat?! The thought of wasting food – or things that could/should really be food – bothers me mentally like the sound of nails on a chalkboard. Maybe it’s because I was raised by immigrants from the Babyboomer generation that found ways to use every scrap of, well, everything. (All those borderline offensive stereotypes about Asians keeping their leftovers not in proper Tupperware but various reused margarine or yogurt tubs were definitely true at my parents’ house. It was less so that we couldn’t afford store-bought storage containers and more so a kneejerk reaction to save both newly emptied food packaging and every morsel of leftover food that we would try to salvage at the end of every eating occasion.)

Have you ever noticed how much our society uses food in “decorative” purposes? That sprig of parsley on your plate that you immediate set aside once the server planted your steak on the table. The mini goards resting on the window sill through the fall months. The big pumpkins we carve up and leave by our doorstep (and we’d be lucky if someone wants to save the seeds for snacking). The strands of popcorn or cranberry strung up in DIY Christmas garlands. The carved carrot flowers on the buffet spreads. The wedge of lime that stays untouched by the side of our cocktails. Globally, we waste 1.3 billion tonnes of food a year –  that’s 1,300,000,000,000 Toyota Camrys (I’m keeping with that Asian immigrants theme here)!

I’d argue that we all can get behind the concept of “wasting food is bad,” but how many of us are actively taking steps to reduce waste? I’m certainly not always an angel – sometimes my leftovers are intentionally ignored because there are newer options, sometimes I accidentally commit vegecide (bran-slaughter? OK this pun is probbaly pushing it…) by forgetting things in the crisper for too long, sometimes I just don’t want to buy that last, single, spotted banana on the grocery shelf. But I’d like to do better, and I encourage you to do the same. Hop on over to the David Suzuki Foundation for some neat ideas on how to do better on food waste!