Yesterday, I broke a self-made rule. Hmm...I did not add a new post to the blog(you see, the rule is one post per day), all I did was to add a picture to my old post Raw Banana Fry. I indirectly should blame a buddy for making me think too philosophical that my routine derailed(HaHa). So here, I have decided to add 2 posts today as a compensation & here is one:
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This is a short story about "Not Wasting Food", of course with a good moral as a take away. I got this story as a mail forward long long back, I did save it somewhere and today it is of use to my blog. Read on:
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This story is narrated in a real time mode.
Germany is a highly industrialized country. It produces top brands like Benz, BMW, Siemens etc. The nuclear reactor pump is made in a small town in this country. In such a country, many will think its people lead a luxurious life. At least that was my impression before my study trip.
When I arrived at Hamburg, my colleagues who work in Hamburg arranged a welcome party for me in a restaurant. As we walked into the restaurant, we noticed that a lot of tables were empty. There was a table where a young couple was having their meal. There were only two dishes and two cans of beer on the table. I wondered if such simple meal could be romantic, and whether the girl will leave this stingy guy.
There were a few old ladies on another table. When a dish is served, the waiter would distribute the food for them, and they would finish every bit of the food on their plates. We did not pay much attention to them, as we were looking forward to the dishes we ordered. As we were hungry, our local colleague ordered more food for us.
As the restaurant was quiet, the food came quite fast. Since there were other activities arranged for us, we did not spend much time dining. When we left, there was still about one third of unconsumed food on the table.
When we were leaving the restaurant, we heard someone calling us. We noticed the old ladies in the restaurant were talking about us to the restaurant owner. When they spoke to us in English, we understood that they were unhappy about us wasting so much food. We immediately felt that they were really being too busybody. "We paid for our food, it is none of your business how much food we left behind," my colleague Gui told the old ladies.
The old ladies were furious. One of them immediately took her hand phone out and made a call to someone. After a while, a man in uniform claimed to be an officer from the Social Security Organisation arrived. Upon knowing what the dispute was, he issued us a 50 Mark fine. We all kept quiet. The local colleague took out a 50 Mark note and repeatedly apologized to the Officer.
The officer told us in a stern voice, "ORDER WHAT YOU CAN CONSUME, MONEY IS YOURS BUT RESOURCES BELONG TO THE SOCIETY. THERE ARE MANY OTHERS IN THE WORLD WHO ARE FACING SHORTAGE OF RESOURCES. YOU HAVE NO REASON TO WASTE RESOURCES.´”
Our face turned red. We all agreed with him in our hearts. The mindset of people of this rich country put all of us to shame. WE REALLY NEED TO REFLECT ON THIS. Some of us, are from country which is not very rich in resources. To save face, we order large quantity and also waste food when we give others a treat. THIS LESSON TAUGHT US A LESSON TO THINK SERIOUSLY ABOUT CHANGING OUR BAD HABITS.
Hope the story imparted a wisdom on each one of you!
Image Courtesy: Somewhere from internet
excellent ! seriously wish if such system wud be implemented here in the middle-east esp Kuwait..but, think here its fashion amongst the elite to order table loads of fud and eat just a tiny portion of it and leave. as if its just not the right manners to finish your whole plate.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sona!
DeleteYou are spot on! - but it is not just Kuwait, I think it is prevalent in many places, especially in India. Seen quite a lot of such acts, when something is left out they can at least pack that & take home for dinner or something instead of wasting, crazy people!!
True !! Sometimes deep inside we feel that it's wrong to waste food.. But the 'Modern' in us makes us feel 'Prestige issue, leave it der' In our office canteen, der is a board where they put up the food wastage of the last three days.. It would read around 100-200 kg per day !! Note, this is just from one canteen out of 6 or 7 in the campus. Enough food to feed a hungry BPL village one time I guess.. Always we have to cross that board to wash our hands.. But still, it never left a message or mental note in anyone I feel. Else the number would at least go down a lil the next day. And this canteen is the HSB (Hotel Saravana Bhavan) where ppl dig in extra pennies from their pockets for ghee dipping hot tasty rich food.. So imagine the plight of the other normal caterers in that campus..
ReplyDeleteWhenever I go to a restaurant I feel that we should pack up the extra food that we left behind.. But many a times I have got an angry wink or sarcastic grin from my relatives or friends for that !! High time ppl change this mentality :) Hope a day comes when NOT wasting food is considered COOL :D
Thanks Chitz!
Delete100 to 200 Kg is a monumental amount from one canteen, and yes it can definitely feed couple of villages in specific BPL (you are spot on with that!!)
I too have seen such boards in my cafeteria, but you know - they don't update them often, so it is like a constant number everyday. And as said by you, nobody cares to even see that!!
I'm totally with you on packing the extra food when eating out. You know - the restaurant does not have any problem in giving the extra food packed, but yes people feel that it is under their dignity or something to ask them to pack it or get a to-go container. But the good thing is, 5 years back if nobody ever asked for the extra food package, now I have seen quite a lot of people(say a 15% increase) doing that in India - which is actually a promising start. Probably, we Indians are learning from the west I guess, good thing though.
Hey Pavithra... I'm really glad to read this post... Coz it taught me a lesson too.. Generally, whenever there are guests at home or we go for treats, we tend to make or order food more than required. And knowingly or unknowingly we waste them. This post was an eye-opener to me that I will definitely take care from now on and make sure everyone in my family and friends do the same. Thanks again for this post dear :-)
ReplyDeleteHey thanks Nilu!! I'm extremely glad, it helped!
DeleteAlso just like you, everybody including myself, would have wasted food at some point of time but it is very sweet of you to accept the issue and also to take steps to fix the same, love the attitude!! :-)
Thanks again, Nilu.
That's a very wonderful story,atleast some people will understand the importance of food and reduce food wastage.I personally don't like wasting food :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie!!
DeleteIndeed, people should understand the importance of food!!
But don't they have boxes to take home left overs? And though I completely agree with wasting of the food part, and that we need to be more conscious, this does seem more like a nanny state.No matter what, infringing on someone else's private party and turning it sour to teach them a lesson is not the ideal way to go.That's bullying. The better thing would have been to put the food on boxes and have you guys take them away. It could not have been a pleasant experience. But this is a wonderful story, very well told. I love the way you write :)
ReplyDeleteHey thanks Minne, for the new perspective. Indeed, I agree to the privacy part. But I still feel that it is the responsibility of the individuals to ask for boxes, fill them and take it with them. Since they did not bother to do that, the onlookers interfered, I guess!!
Delete