Anthony Bourdain Tackles One of the World's Biggest Food Problems in His New Documentary

Anthony Bourdain talking about getting wasted sounds like a familiar tale from years past; it's arguably what helped propel him to international fame. But now that he's built and sustained an impactful global voice, he's using it to shine light on another huge problem in the food world: waste.

First screened last spring at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, his documentary Wasted! The Story of Food Waste is now scheduled to hit theaters and video on demand on October 13. The trailer quickly establishes just how obscene the problem is in the United States alone, estimating that about 40 percent of food produced in this country goes to waste.

When first approached with the idea for the documentary, Bourdain was rather skeptical.

"I hated the whole idea of this movie," he admitted in an interview in the movie. "So serious, I don't even know that we deserve to live. But as a young cook I came up in an old-school system, use everything, waste nothing."

By the time the project was underway, he had totally changed his tune.

"This is an important and informative film and a project I’m proud to be part of,” he said in a statement provided to Deadline. “Chefs have been at the cutting edge of efforts to contend responsibly with the problem of food waste, perhaps because they, more than others, are painfully aware of the egregious volume of perfectly usable, nutritious food that could otherwise feed people in need, being thrown out in our restaurants.”

The movie also has plenty of food porn, as high-profile chef friends like Mario Batali and Danny Bowien show how sexy it is to use as much of your produce as possible in the kitchen. "We don't need to produce more," asserts chef Massimo Bottura, who helms three-Michelin-star Osteria Francescana in Italy. "We need to act different."

Watch the trailer below to get a taste: