WE’VE BEEN STORING FRESH FOOD ALL WRONG

We’ve been storing fresh food all wrong and plastic wrap, with its airtight promise, is to blame. 

Airtight fresh food storage is not right. In fact, it’s dead wrong. No matter the material, plastic or otherwise, fresh living food will spoil, rot, and putrefy in an airtight environment. We’ve all witnessed fresh food succumbing to its airtight environment and what’s even worse is we accept it as a normal outcome and that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Our blind acceptance of airtight food storage, brought to you by big plastic in the 1950s, is directly responsible for mountains of food waste and indirectly responsible for our embarrassingly low expectations for the life of food. 

Food Is Alive and Airtight Plastic Kills It

I invented Abeego beeswax wrap as a bright-eyed, young holistic nutritionist who was seeking optimal nutrition. I understood my lemons, grapes, greens, cheese, and all other produce was alive, with their nutrient content indicating their life force. The richer the flavor, the brighter the scent, and the crisper the texture were all signs that the life of my food was enriching my own. My gut said plastic had no business wrapping my living produce. I had a hunch it was negatively affecting my fresh food and ultimately my health, and oh boy was I ever right. 

Observing fresh food for more than a decade in a breathable environment vs an airtight one has proven my hunch right but the airtight plastic problem goes deeper than the 27-year-old me could have imagined. 

The short story? Airtight plastic kills living food. The long story? A breathable environment supports the life of food making it behave in ways you may have never expected. Sixteen years later, I’m here to tell you there’s more life in your fresh food than you think. 

Here’s what using breathable Abeego has taught me about living food: 

• The cut side of a half avocado will dry, rebuilding a new protective layer that protects the fruit for weeks. 
• The cut side of a lemon, lime, and even an apple all regenerate a new “peel” over time. 
• Fresh herbs slowly dry while retaining a notable flavor profile. 
• A head of cabbage will start to grow new shoots where it’s been cut if not eaten in 5-6 weeks. 
• Kale, arugula, and cabbage shoots won’t rot, rather, they’ll flower! 

Abeego has provided living proof of my hypothesis: food is alive, and it needs to be protected in a breathable environment. 

Here’s what I’ve learned about fresh food in airtight plastic: 

• Fresh rhubarb loses its signature zing when zipped in a plastic. It looks ok but it tastes like tin. Smell a freshly opened sealed bag of greens. It stinks but you’re used to it. 
• The white slime on a half-cut lemon isn’t a lemon issue. 
• Slimy, slippery cucumbers are a manufactured problem. 

Rotting, spoiling, and putrefying fresh food aren’t food problems at all. They’re airtight plastic problems. So how did it get so f***ed up? It only took 60 years, a couple billion dollars, and a truly misguided brand promise: Lock and seal in freshness with airtight plastic wrap.

Follow along as we discredit plastic wrap's airtight promise, debunk the hacks & gimmicks that have come since, and prove that food is truly alive.