food for thought
We tried out a new joint for lunch today, following recommendation from a colleague. It wasn't so much the food; it was the free-flow dessert (red bean soup for today) that enticed (or, should I say, bribed) him.
I had tom yam seafood bee hoon soup, but it was so bland yet spicy it was like eating chili! In the end, I only finished half of it.
For that half bowl of bee hoon wasted, I had to endure disapproving looks from some of my colleagues. And that got me thinking: I know parents and elders like to teach their young ones not to waste food. They mean well, of course. But to support their case, they often cite the example of starving African children. And it is this that I could never comprehend: how does finishing our food help feed those starving African children?
Being "engineer-trained", I'm perversely inclined to explain and relate all things with logic, however hard I have to twist and turn it. Forget about African children, let's just talk about people around us who couldn't afford three proper meals. How can we help them? The logic is really simple actually (and no, I don't mean passing on leftover food to those poor folks).
Instead of finishing our food every time, imagine what would happen if everybody wastes food. Sooner or later, all the restaurants and eateries would start realising that the portions they serve are too large for the average diner. The sensible and economical thing for them to do would be to reduce their serving sizes. So if every single restaurant and eatery starts doing that, the demand for food and related commodities would drop. What happens next? Prices will drop, of course. It's simple demand-supply economics, ha!
So voila! Less people will starve as a result because food has become cheaper. Simple as that. In addition, more people will be healthier as a result of not overeating.
Make sense, non? Or am I sprouting nonsense again?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: Oh does not advocate wasting food. He's merely trying to justify his own wasteful actions and appease his guilty conscience.
I had tom yam seafood bee hoon soup, but it was so bland yet spicy it was like eating chili! In the end, I only finished half of it.
For that half bowl of bee hoon wasted, I had to endure disapproving looks from some of my colleagues. And that got me thinking: I know parents and elders like to teach their young ones not to waste food. They mean well, of course. But to support their case, they often cite the example of starving African children. And it is this that I could never comprehend: how does finishing our food help feed those starving African children?
Being "engineer-trained", I'm perversely inclined to explain and relate all things with logic, however hard I have to twist and turn it. Forget about African children, let's just talk about people around us who couldn't afford three proper meals. How can we help them? The logic is really simple actually (and no, I don't mean passing on leftover food to those poor folks).
Instead of finishing our food every time, imagine what would happen if everybody wastes food. Sooner or later, all the restaurants and eateries would start realising that the portions they serve are too large for the average diner. The sensible and economical thing for them to do would be to reduce their serving sizes. So if every single restaurant and eatery starts doing that, the demand for food and related commodities would drop. What happens next? Prices will drop, of course. It's simple demand-supply economics, ha!
So voila! Less people will starve as a result because food has become cheaper. Simple as that. In addition, more people will be healthier as a result of not overeating.
Make sense, non? Or am I sprouting nonsense again?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: Oh does not advocate wasting food. He's merely trying to justify his own wasteful actions and appease his guilty conscience.
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3 Comments:
Actually i thought of your logic before too... how about starting a programme where everyone is giving an option where they are allowed to donate a portion of their food away... they get a smaller portion, no food wasted, and the poorer ones get to enjoy too...
Yuani.
usually it's the older folks who has a thing about finishing food. probably brain washed since young. I so don't believe in stuffing yourself till you burst just to satisfy some moral highlanders.
i'm sure westerners tell their kids not to waste food too.. dunno abt the african children part though!
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