Rotting Food Art of Worldwide Waste
By: Rachael Stuart
Published: June 28, 2012

Austrian artist Klaus Pichler has carefully constructed "One Third," a 55-photo series lending perspective to the findings of a United Nations study.
One third of worldwide food products go to waste.
Pichler gathered molding and rotting foods shipped from around the world -- an octopus from Sri Lanka, a pineapple from Ecuador -- and assembled them in intriguing still lifes. The foods interact with decorative dinnerware or humorous props, such as instant mashed potatoes piled on a shiny Elvis Presley plate to frame his face like hair.
Beneath each photo, Pichler has listed the food's place of production, carbon footprint, and other facts concerning the environment. The cheese in the photo featured abovet was produced in Switzerland and transported by truck. In his extended project statement, Pichler notes that most of the food we waste is produced in the Southern Hemisphere.
To check out Klaus Pichler's entire project (warning: some images of food decomposition are a little disturbing), click here. Read the accompanying text for more information on the UN study and the culture of food waste.