War against food waste heats up in China

SHANGHAI - After a satisfying lunch, Mr Qian Bingkun and his wife watched a waitress pack their leftover stir-fried tofu and dessert into takeout boxes as their daughter paid for the meal.

"Some food had hardly been touched, because customers were used to ordering more than they could eat to show their generosity," she said, adding that the measures have succeeded, as the amount of daily leftovers has since halved. In 2018, during an inspection tour in Heilongjiang province, he said:"The rice bowl of the Chinese people, in any situation, must be firmly held in our own hands."

In Shaanxi province, the Xi'an municipal commerce bureau called for local eateries to provide smaller dishes or to serve half portions to avoid waste. At the Anhui Jinling Grand Hotel in Hefei's downtown Baohe district, diners who avoid food waste have been rewarded since April. If they take away their leftovers, customers receive either a 10 per cent discount or a 50 yuan coupon to use on their next visit.

Previously, a dish of shrimps usually comprised as many of the crustaceans as a plate could hold, but now only 10 to 12 shrimps are served to a table of 10 diners. The Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart Co said the long-established restaurants it operates have always encouraged customers to order sensibly and take their leftovers home. The eateries also specify the weight of food in each dish on their menus.

"Every time I make a food video at a restaurant, I'm frequently offered a table full of dishes, but I always pack up the leftovers if I cannot eat them all," said Mr Li, who started posting food videos in January and now has nearly 50,000 followers. Searches for"chibo" on the Bilibili video-sharing website produce a notice at the top of the results reminding people to cherish food and eat sensibly.

"Sometimes, because of shortages, we couldn't get food even if we had tickets. Back then, there were no leftovers after meals. Wasting food was simply out of the question." BUMPER HARVEST According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's food output last year reached a record 660 million metric tons, a rise of 20 percent from 2010.

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