Put an end to food waste, and make every day Food Day
On the occasion of "World Food Day", some media outlets conducted surveys and visits to some dining venues in the ancient city of Xi'an, and found that apart from some school canteens that are relatively able to achieve "clean plates", food waste in many other dining venues has become severe enough to brook no neglect. In a food court with an area of several thousand sq m, bowls and dishes on many tables still had food left in them; in some bowls, more than half of the noodles remained, while the people had already left.
The establishment of "World Food Day" aims to rouse the world's attention to and concern for developing food production, and to warn people to cherish and save food. This is not only because food is the spirit of the earth and a gift from nature to sustain human life, but also because every grain of food embodies the hard work of cultivators in spring sowing and autumn harvesting, winter storing and summer keeping. The senseless waste of "more than half of the noodles left while the people have already gone" not only goes against the national cultural tradition of diligence and thrift and making the best use of everything, but is also a manifestation of a lack of respect for labor and reverence for nature.
A set of data may serve as a wake-up call for those who waste food: according to experts, 1/8 of the world's population faces the threat of hunger, while 1/3 of the food produced each year is wasted. At the beginning of this year, survey data from China Agricultural University showed that in China alone, the protein and fat wasted in dining amounted to as much as 11 million tons a year, equivalent to a year's rations for 200 million people.
When examining people's wasteful dining habits, there is not only the nouveau riche mentality of "wasting a bit is no big deal" derived from having ample food and clothing and an improved life, but also the vanity of showing off, saving face and comparing extravagance. To correct the wasteful habit of "more than half of the noodles left", first, education in the virtue of frugality, cherishing food and advocating thrift should be strengthened, so that "saving is glorious, wasting is shameful" becomes a common value orientation in society; second, the mistaken notion of competing in extravagance and flaunting wealth should be eliminated, and through explanations such as calculating and comparing accounts, people's long-fixed cognitive misunderstanding that a "clean plate" means "shabbiness" while a "leftover feast" is what can be called a "grand feast" should be corrected. In this way, "order as much as you can eat" and "take home what you cannot finish" should become people's dining habits; at the same time, restaurants and hotels should also shoulder the social responsibility of "putting an end to waste on the plate", and in line with the dietary principles of being scientific, moderate and clean-plate, guide the combined-platter model and vigorously promote half portions; in addition, the government also needs to introduce corresponding encouragement and disciplinary measures for the catering market.