I have noticed that in China there is a lot of wasted food especially when entertaining at these big round table banquets and it makes me really uncomfortable to leave the table with dishes half full of meat and vegetables. This is especially poignant in a place like Quannan where some children do not have enough to eat. After having a banquet for lunch and dinner for the first 4 days and seeing all the wasted food I decided to take matters into my own hands and told my hosts that I would like to have my dinner in a local noodle restaurant from now on.
They were a little bemused and when I explained why, they accepted my reasoning and pointed me in the direction of a local cafe where we could eat a simple dish of noodles or rice with little or no waste.
When I first came to China I used to like these big feasts with a constant supply of fresh dishes and beer and wine and baijiu until you could burst. It wasn’t long however, until I became sick of them and tired of all the waste.
I have been served up strange food which I have refused to eat. One Spring Festival I was presented with donkey (refused) and dog (refused) and turtle (refused). In Quannan we got a plate of little turtles which everyone around the table agreed should be immediately returned to kitchen.
I hoped that someone would eat these creatures who would have been killed slaughtered (in probably a quite nasty way) for the dining pleasure of man. I hope they did not give their life in vain.
Let’s have an end to food waste. There is no excuse for it when so many people have so little to eat.