As the author of American Wasteland, Jonathan Bloom has been researching the topic of wasted food since 2005. That year, two experiences made Bloom aware of just how much food is wasted. The first was volunteering at D.C. Central Kitchen, a homeless shelter that rescues unused food from restaurants and supermarkets. The second was learning about gleaning, or gathering crops that would otherwise be left in the field and distributing them to the hungry. These moments illustrated both the prepared food and agricultural abundance that is often plowed under.

Bloom created WastedFood.com, a blog that encourages awareness about food waste issues and provides tips to avoid wasting food.