Food Waste

Food Waste :

How can we increase our impact on #reducefoodwaste ? The restaurants waste far too much food. We need to find solutions because it's our planet that is at stake. Restaurants can start reducing food waste in three main steps : they could propose different sizes of portions of food, offer more often family bags, and they could  propose fewer choices to the customers.

First, restaurants should start giving a portion guide to the customers for every dish, because when people don’t finish their dishes the restaurants automatically need to throw them away. So giving the choice for the customers to choose their  portions can be a good alternative. Especially when we know that most people don’t finish their dish. “Most restaurateurs say that bigger is better but it’s false. Because when you have a big portion you don’t appreciate it as much as if it was smaller. Restaurateurs always want to serve bigger portions, but customers are not of the same opinion.”(Juul)

Next, the family bags also called more often doggy bags are bags used by a restaurant customer to take home leftover food. This is a very good idea because it could help the restaurants to reduce their food waste and you to save your money. “ So don’t be shy about asking for a doggy bag in the restaurants : you deserve a round of applause”(Cloake). As we use family bags, we contribute to the help of your planet and reduce food waste. In addition, you can still appreciate your meal at home later with the family bag. “The new law obliges restaurants in France with over 180 covers a day to a doggy bag, a container to take home the leftovers of one’s meal, to any customer requesting one” (Gattone). I think everyone should do the same. It’s a very good procedure.

Last but not least, restaurants should propose fewer choices to customers, so the menu will be shorter. I think this is one of the biggest problems. Because restaurants propose a large choice of dishes, that means that they are going to need a lot of ingredients. Often, they prepare more food that their customers eat. And because often the food is fresh, they need to throw it away. As a result, if the customers have fewer choices in the restaurants, the people running the restaurants have less variety of food to buy so at the end less food to waste. 

In conclusion, we could start saving our planet by reducing food waste. The restaurants also could help with this by doing simple things. So if restaurants stop wasting food or limit their wastes, we have come one step closer to a better planet

• Cloake, Felicity. “Don’t Be Shy about asking for a Doggy Bag: You Deserve a Round of Applause.” theguardian.com, The Guardian. 13 May 2019. Web. 2 Mar 2020.

• Gattone, Luisa. “If You Respect Food, Ask the Restaurant for a Doggy Bag for Leftovers.” lifegate.com, LIFEGATE. Web. 2 Mar 2020.

• Juul, Selina. “How To Control Portions and Reduce Food Waste ?” huffpost.com, Huffpost. 20 Jan 2016. Web. 2 Mar 2020