The other day, we were clearing out some of the shelves at home and came across a few bottles of moisturising cream. Some of them had half a bottle of cream left and some others had just a tablespoon of cream. Here’s what I did to the bottles –
I managed to fill almost a 200 gm bottle with the cream that I took out of these bottles. Why waste it ? Am proud of the fact that this is an Indian trait. We squeeze out the last drop of oil, toothpaste, honey, cream from bottles and jars. Toothpaste not only cleans our teeth, it also cleans our silverware and brassware !! Multiple uses for the same item.
Food Wastage – Waste Not, Want Not
While we take care of not wasting any “item”, food gets a very different treatment ! Watch a wedding buffet or an office party and the food wastage will make you cringe. Am not even talking about eating too much, this is about loading our plates with heaps of different food items and wasting most of it :(.
My father taught me not to waste even a small particle of food. It was a harsh lesson, but one that has stayed with me. As a young 8 or 9 year old, one day, when I refused to eat the food that was on my plate, he kept saying he would pour it on my head if I didn’t eat it. He did pour it on my head when I continued to snivel and cry, refusing to eat it up. We had no fridge or any way of storing that rasam rice, so as a lesson, it went on my head. Much later I heard that he had done the same to my aunt when she was a young girl. 🙂
The result of that punishment is I won’t leave food on the plate. I will either eat it up or create a doggy pack. Even at a restaurant, I don’t feel shy asking for the leftover food to be packed. We have paid for it, so why should we not take it with us?
I found this infographic about food wastage in India. This is data from 2021.
The Problem of Hunger Can Be Solved
The world’s hunger problem can be solved very easily. If everyone stopped wasting food, there is enough for everyone who is going hungry. I don’t want to quote the World Hunger Index and India’ rank there because its actually illogical – a country that’s running the world’s largest “free ration” program cannot be ranked near the bottom. Also the country that’s sending food supplies to neighbouring countries in crisis, cannot be ranked near the bottom.
I don’t believe the world hunger problem will be solved, but am sure, India’s poor don’t/won’t go hungry. We have reached a stage where there is plenty of food available. The loopholes in the Public Distribution System have mostly been plugged and ration cards are now Aadhar based, portable.
BUT, we still need to fix the Indian mindset around food wastage. If food is available at a wedding or a party, free of cost, it doesn’t mean you waste it. Definitely enjoy eating to your heart’s content, the weighing scale be damned, but don’t waste a single particle.
It starts at home – sometimes we have visitors who leave half a cup of tea or coffee behind….. I feel like telling them “if you didn’t want that much coffee or tea, ask me to make you just half a cup !”.
A few things that you can do at home to avoid food wastage –
- Get smaller plates and cups. You will eat less and waste less 🙂
- If there is a lot of food leftover, give it away to your Househelp, security guard or a nearby food bank before the food gets spoilt.
- Make smaller batches.
- Teach children to first eat up the leftover food before making fresh food. There is a lot of interesting items that can be made with leftovers !
