In trying to lessen the obvious hypocrisy, I’m going to introduce 3 vegetarian days into my week….wish me luck! :-)

Anyhoo, another thing I forgot to add was that unfortunately, there’s a lot of food being wasted in England. Perhaps because we have generally forgotten what poverty is, we often see leftover food bee lining it for the bin.

I’m tight, but being Chinese as well*, we were taught not to throw away food. From a young age, my peers and I were beaten with feather dusters and flip flops until the sunset, but we were also told that waste is scandalous as:
1) the rice (yes, we ALWAYS eat rice) on our plate is the result of somebody’s back-breaking labour in the paddy fields
2) Somebody somewhere is starving, possibly to death.
These two notions alone (accompanied by the intimidation factor of the feather duster) were enough to instil a sense of duty to the food on our plates, or in our bowls rather.
The counter argument is that there’s no point in stuffing yourself to obesity. But then there are always options:
1) Improve portion control. Like most things, prevention is better than cure!
2) Store it away for another day
3) Eat it! And then do some exercise later.

*Similarly, as we are massive carnivores, our redemption is that we don’t waste the food we cook. But also, we respect the animal by using as much of it as possible. For example, chicken feet is not everybody’s idea of a good meal, but cooked in the right way it can be very tasty – if you can get over the unsightly appearance.

Even worse, supermarkets throw away huge amounts of food at the end of every day. It’s fair that food past the sell by date should not be sold to the unassuming consumer, but there must surely be
In fact, a lot of food is still in good condition – my friend says a bruised banana in a bag can lead to the whole bag being thrown away. Disgraceful considering the air miles as well. So, it’s perhaps something to do with our own snobbery that stores enforce their own regulations.

I think that instead of spending time thinking up and filling out expenses claims, this is an area where the government should act. Surely, they should enforce policies that encourage more responsible management of food by these giant money-making corporations?
Along with disposing of food at the slightest whim, a lot of produce is being wasted by not being reduced early enough. These little bright flags are a joy to a forager like me, but it can also help reduce the amount of food being thrown away. My inside source says that they can just be too lazy or unwilling to employ the staff (not profitable) to be more vigilant.
If food really cannot be sold, then surely supermarket staff should have the option to buy or take produce that has been written off. Currently, Tesco’s on Newmarket Road forbids staff to take food that has been earmarked for the bins. I can understand corporations want to be careful not to cause situations where staff might ‘reserve’ food, but there has to be a better system in place. A giant industrial-sized feather duster maybe?

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