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| Good riddance, air pop popcorn popper |
First on my list: this air pop popcorn popper. Why in the world would anyone (read: we) purchase an appliance that actually makes worse food than a pot on the stove? To add to the humiliation, we bought this a month after my parents offered to give us their old one for free. The only reason anyone buys air poppers is because they're on a diet, like Rich and I were after Emma was born. (Yes, she's 17 now.) A cup of air popped popcorn has 30 calories; stove top, 60. But just as I would rather not eat styrofoam packing material, I prefer to eat less and better popcorn. This air pop popcorn popper is especially annoying because it takes up a lot of space; we have a 1920s-size kitchen, long before the era of single-use appliances.
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| Curse you, Joe Mooney, for putting this cheesecake pan on the free table at work! Cheesecake! Mmm! |
My sister pointed out that donating stuff doesn't do anything to remove it from the vast river of stuff that's out there. Tracy Artley, the University's recycling guru, pointed out that sustainability isn't just about throwing stuff in a different bin. It's about fundamentally changing how we operate in the world. So I'm resolved: no more single-use appliances.
In the meantime, though, this one goes into the donation box.
There are some single-use appliances that are really useful; I use my rice cooker several times a week, and my electric kettle several times a day. What's frustrating is that when they stop working, there's no place to get them repaired, and so they end up in the trash. There's got to be a way to re-use the components, but so far I haven't found one.
ReplyDeleteJust a culinary note: I have to say---air-popped popcorn makes better popcorn than stovetop pc. And you can add as much or as little butter as you want, plus the thing on top is for melting butter. But it is a uni-tasker. Admit we don't use ours very much but when we do, lovely popcorn!
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