Friday, September 16, 2011

A new strategy for reducing food wastage?

Egg sandwich
Food Diary (September 16, 2011)
Breakfast: Rolled oats with banana, coconut, almonds, sunflower seeds and flax seeds
Lunch: Egg sandwich
Dinner: Sautéed potato, cauliflower and pickled herring
Baking/sweets:

I am so glad that not so pretty photos  are not banned, the poor egg sandwich would stand no chance of getting through in case there was a ban. It did taste good though, bread, egg and sauce, can't really go wrong.

Today's Favourite Photo
Pseudo Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Pastry


Today’s Favourite Blog
Do you recall your parents threatening to punish you if you didn’t finish your meal, and reward you if you did? The famous carrot and stick approach, and carrot was probably one of the foods we did not finish. Those days went as we grew up, well not for everyone.

A restaurant owner in Saudi Arabia is fining diners who don’t eat everything they order. “Fahad al Anezi, of Dammam, said customers often order a large quantity of food as a status symbol at his establishment, the Marmar Restaurant.  Al Anezi calculates the fines based on the amount of food left over, and said he has received support from other Saudis for his idea.

Wastage is bad but if someone is willing and able to afford it I wonder if a fine will discourage them. Wastage is good for Al Anezi though, he makes money twice from his food, or three times if he sells the left overs! So while he is doing this to reduce wastage, silently he may be hoping for more wastage. Talk about a screwed up incentive structure! 

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14 comments:

  1. i think your egg sandwich looks pretty good! what sauce did you use in it?

    Haha, that's what i thought when i started to read it too, he may just wish that people will waste food! haha

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  2. As long as the dish was tasty, who cares how it looks! That's what the words are for. =D

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  3. That sandwich looks really good and delicious tome....
    Oh I love reading your food dairy, Inspiring...
    Have a great weeknend.

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  4. Interesting! There is a restaurant here that charges diners if they order more than they consume. Although I love getting leftovers so I don't know what happens with those!

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  5. How funny about Al Alnezi...! I don't think that is a bad photo of your egg sandwich at all. Those Chinese autumnal festival pastries look so unique and pretty.

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  6. Hey! That's me! Aww .. thanks for making that your favorite photo today.... made my morning :D
    Today's materialistic world is all about status symbols and showing off, isn't it? More so for those in oil rich countries. You should see them shop! Scary! Singapore did this 'fine for food wastage' thing a long time ago but only at buffets ... not sure what's it like now. Don't know why people take more than they can finish at buffets anyway since one can keep going back for unlimited rounds.
    Nothing wrong with the egg sandwich. Sometimes when the dish is too perfect, I don't know where to start digging in or afraid to spoil the looks. Looove egg sandwiches. Now you've got me hungry.

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  7. hmm i don't think i would ever force my kids to finish their meals. i think it is super unhealthy! intuitive eating is key - knowing how to listen to our bodies, u know? i grew up being forced to eat things when i wasn't hungry! lol.

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  8. really cool about the wastage fine! I am doing a waste minimizing thing for GLAD now and they sent me gangloads of trash (styrofoam). Love that egg sammie look - is that homemade bread?

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  9. I'm pretty sure there's a restaurant in Australia tht charges for food you don't eat too, but I think it's an all-you-can-eat style restaurant? I don't think I like the idea of having to absolutely eat everything on the plate. What if it tastes icky? :P

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  10. Sylvia: Ajvar sauce. Exactly, and he makes them pay more and he has some food to sell again!

    Yummychunklet: good approach!

    Reem: thank you

    Lorraine: I also wondered how leftovers are treated.

    Elaine: Al Alnezi got good publicity

    ping: you recognized the photo:) That’s a great photo. People become greedy…I’ve seen people fill up plates like a mountain when they can take little and eat without having to worry about food falling onto the table and all the flavours mixing

    Junia: hahaha, so you know!


    Anna: yes it is homemade, badly sliced though! That sounds like a fun project

    Hannah: You can complain I guess if its icky and negotiate a discount on the penalty:)

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  11. Hey! I'm not sure I support the fines because the restaurants always put WAY too much food on my plate for me to finish in the first place. If I had the option to have only 'half' a plate I'd be able to finish everything too...

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  12. I loved Ping's photo, too. Now off to check out that yummy ice cream/chocolate combo in your previous post. Have a great weekend~

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  13. I absolutely haaaaate wasting food. I have heard of this before about paying for your leftovers as it discourages people to take more than they can eat! I find buffets extremely dangerous... haha

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  14. Your egg sandwich does look very appealing to me! I can imagine how good it was...
    I loved Ping's out-of-space pastry! Thanks for choosing it!
    I think the restaurant owner should rather distribute the leftovers to the poor... Or maybe make his customers taste the dishes before they order? So that he can be sure they don't finish because they want to show off and not because they don't like his dishes ;-)

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