Recently in China there was a government initiative in attempt to reduce food waste nationwide. Of course some Western media sources picked this up and twisted it to make it look as if China are facing a food shortage crisis. Here’s our take on food waste in China and how it differs from our home culture of the UK.
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Olli, it is not always to "show face" when the host orders more food than necessary. Your dad is correct to say that it is the polite thing to do when there is a guest, he or she must be fed so that they will not go hungry. It has always been the Chinese way to share food as the proper Chinese way of greeting is to ask a person whether he has eaten – not "how are you"
If Chinese in China don't change their ways in eating, the food god will not be happy, and may really cause famine in Mainland China. I hope that for the future generation's of Mainland Chinese, that famine will not happen. But please, don't waste food, else cosmic justice will surely come, just please be careful of not causing future calamity.
Thanks for bring up this topic. It's a food first step in preventing food wastage.
I grow up in the 80s and we were told not to waste food. I feel sad about the large amount if wastage knowing there are people round the world who goes hungry on a regular basis.
This also helps elevating global warming: less wastage = less consumption = less energy and land required to grow the crops and feed the animals.
"Epoch Times": From anti-China tabloid to right-wing influence machine
How The Epoch Times Created a Giant Influence Machine
For years, The Epoch Times was a small, low-budget newspaper with an anti-China slant that was handed out free on New York street corners. But in 2016 and 2017, the paper made two changes that transformed it into one of the country’s most powerful digital publishers.
The changes also paved the way for the publication, which is affiliated with the secretive and relatively obscure Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong, to become a leading purveyor of right-wing misinformation.
Many of these are supported by Falun Gong, Use e-newspapers, online news and television media, youtube, Facebook, twitter to spread rumors all over the world
From 1959 to 1961, China expenited a great famine.
My grandparent told me time to time, a lots of people died at that time. He saw many desperate peoples eating bark and belt.
I am can not imagine what terror they have been through.
Sometimes they came to my home and stay for dinner. after the meal, me and my wife just about to clean it up. They alway check the plate first to make sure nothing left to wast. Otherwise, they will ask us to eat them all, if we refuse, then they will.
So you can imagine why some chinese take food seriously. Even though the young have not experienced the famine, but I am pretty sure most of them heard these stories.
Very nice topic! You surely observed it closely. All that you said about how and why it happens is so true. The food for guest have to be more than they need to show respect and avoid awkwardness. People usually boxes the rest in family banquets but not in business ones. This is the major part(around 80%) of wasting food happened in China. I am surprised you noticed that people usually don’t store a lot of food in refrigerator. And that’s also why the wet market is in every block. People could buy what they need everyday.
When I was a kid, in the 80s, there were already campaign against food waste, I remember there were slogans in school canteens saying "food waste is shameful". Then these slogans just disappeared through the 90s, 00s, and 10s.
Olli, you once again misunderstood the Chinese culture and I would like to correct your impression of "losing face". When say a Chinese person buys his dinner guest an expensive dish or dishes, it is not a matter of "saving face" but it is more due to the fact that guest/s is always treated with respect and this is one way of showing it. I hope that this will give you a better understanding of the Chinese Culture.
I think in western countries, people waste more food at home. in China we waste too much food when we eat with friends in the restaurant or if we invite guests at home. when we eat with our own family at home, people tend to not waste food, especially older people. it really relates to our host culture.
I think wasting, in general, is just a bad thing to do, food or energy or things alike. I was raised with the idea of not wasting, and like Oli, whenever I see there is food left, I try to eat more so they don't get wasted. But that had a side effect which I spent 2 months with my girlfriend and I grew 10 kilograms because I always tried to finish her leftovers. Damn.
I reckon there will be a shortage of food imported from Australia pretty soon lol. I'm from Malaysia and around half of the vegetables I get from the supermarket are imported from China. India supplies quite a decent amount to us as well especially the onions. If China ever gets into a situation where they are short of food, I worry the ones who will feel the effects are the countries which imports huge amount of their produce from China. Plus, a large number of the non-metropolitan people in China will have no problem going on a vegan diet for an extended amount of time because they're used to their vegs. I'm a 3rd (or 4th) generation immigrant (great grandpa came from China, grandpa was born here in Malaysia) and I do vegetarian diets for a couple of weeks a year due to cultural reasons. The only problem with that is how difficult and expensive it is to get on that kind of diet here. Don't get me wrong, I love mcdonalds and char siew but I don't think it will be devastating if meat isn't available to me for a while. Heck, (Beyondmeat) is 2 millennia too late as the shaolin monks has already been serving faux meat way back then
it has been actually an etiquette to always have too much food on the table when having guests, it'd be an absolute embarrassment to have no food left behind. Which is not a good etiquette.
I can understand the food waste for a business meal. They just need to order a bit less. Also, no one wants to take leftovers back to the office. It makes them look cheap. Having face is very important in China, and in a business environment.
When eating with family and friends, my family always take food home that is not eaten. Even in a Chinese wedding, where there is tons of food, the leftovers are packed in containers so that we can bring them home.
There are expressions that we said before that should no longer be said now, like EAT MORE! Shut up, you are 350lbs already, stop eating. Another example: YOU CAN'T GO HOME IF YOU ARE NOT DRUNK (for party goers), well maybe it is OK in the past but now, with your fancy Lamborghini, you better not get drunk your idiot.
There are some people in the western world who would love to take every opotunity to bad mouth and attack China. Sometimes you really want to ask them what has China done to those people? After all, the West has been robbing and taken advantage of China for a few hundred years. Isn't that enough?
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What are your thoughts on the wasting of food in China? If you've not been to China, what's it like in your country?
🙏🙏🙏👍
缺量危机确实胡扯 但是浪费风气也必须继续改 也已经有了一些成效 现在去餐厅很多时候人们都会打包或者点适量的食物。给面子这事儿 确实还是存在的 但也慢慢越来越少了 希望越来越好吧
It is bad to waste food so make / cook enough for you and you friends to eat. You can always make more.
OH YEAH, THERE R BILLIONS DIE IN CHINA DUE TO THE FOOD SHORTAGE LOL WESTERN LIKES THAT A LOT.
Olli, it is not always to "show face" when the host orders more food than necessary. Your dad is correct to say that it is the polite thing to do when there is a guest, he or she must be fed so that they will not go hungry. It has always been the Chinese way to share food as the proper Chinese way of greeting is to ask a person whether he has eaten – not "how are you"
其实大约10年前就有光盘行动了
靠右走大哥，这里不是英国，靠左走，很危险
If Chinese in China don't change their ways in eating, the food god will not be happy, and may really cause famine in Mainland China.
I hope that for the future generation's of Mainland Chinese, that famine will not happen. But please, don't waste food, else cosmic justice will surely come, just please be careful of not causing future calamity.
China #4
光盘行动我记得我大学时好像就有宣布了，我2014年毕业的
Thanks for bring up this topic. It's a food first step in preventing food wastage.
I grow up in the 80s and we were told not to waste food. I feel sad about the large amount if wastage knowing there are people round the world who goes hungry on a regular basis.
This also helps elevating global warming: less wastage = less consumption = less energy and land required to grow the crops and feed the animals.
ThanKS
For 面子
我们出去吃饭，吃不完都会打包，以前会觉得不好意思，现在会觉着这是会过日子的表现
New York Times
"Epoch Times": From anti-China tabloid to right-wing influence machine
How The Epoch Times Created a Giant Influence Machine
For years, The Epoch Times was a small, low-budget newspaper with an anti-China slant that was handed out free on New York street corners. But in 2016 and 2017, the paper made two changes that transformed it into one of the country’s most powerful digital publishers.
The changes also paved the way for the publication, which is affiliated with the secretive and relatively obscure Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong, to become a leading purveyor of right-wing misinformation.
Many of these are supported by Falun Gong, Use e-newspapers, online news and television media, youtube, Facebook, twitter to spread rumors all over the world
From 1959 to 1961, China expenited a great famine.
My grandparent told me time to time, a lots of people died at that time. He saw many desperate peoples eating bark and belt.
I am can not imagine what terror they have been through.
Sometimes they came to my home and stay for dinner. after the meal, me and my wife just about to clean it up. They alway check the plate first to make sure nothing left to wast. Otherwise, they will ask us to eat them all, if we refuse, then they will.
So you can imagine why some chinese take food seriously. Even though the young have not experienced the famine, but I am pretty sure most of them heard these stories.
可惜可惜，很多国家有浪费粮食的风气。毫不奇怪，美国浪费粮食的风气最先进的 。更令人惊讶的是德国位居第二。一个需要关注的方面是其他的调查出现其他的结果。也就是说，问题普遍的。
Very nice topic! You surely observed it closely. All that you said about how and why it happens is so true. The food for guest have to be more than they need to show respect and avoid awkwardness. People usually boxes the rest in family banquets but not in business ones. This is the major part(around 80%) of wasting food happened in China. I am surprised you noticed that people usually don’t store a lot of food in refrigerator. And that’s also why the wet market is in every block. People could buy what they need everyday.
When I was a kid, in the 80s, there were already campaign against food waste, I remember there were slogans in school canteens saying "food waste is shameful". Then these slogans just disappeared through the 90s, 00s, and 10s.
Olli, you once again misunderstood the Chinese culture and I would like to correct your impression of "losing face". When say a Chinese person buys his dinner guest an expensive dish or dishes, it is not a matter of "saving face" but it is more due to the fact that guest/s is always treated with respect and this is one way of showing it. I hope that this will give you a better understanding of the Chinese Culture.
I think in western countries, people waste more food at home. in China we waste too much food when we eat with friends in the restaurant or if we invite guests at home. when we eat with our own family at home, people tend to not waste food, especially older people. it really relates to our host culture.
I think wasting, in general, is just a bad thing to do, food or energy or things alike. I was raised with the idea of not wasting, and like Oli, whenever I see there is food left, I try to eat more so they don't get wasted. But that had a side effect which I spent 2 months with my girlfriend and I grew 10 kilograms because I always tried to finish her leftovers. Damn.
I reckon there will be a shortage of food imported from Australia pretty soon lol. I'm from Malaysia and around half of the vegetables I get from the supermarket are imported from China. India supplies quite a decent amount to us as well especially the onions. If China ever gets into a situation where they are short of food, I worry the ones who will feel the effects are the countries which imports huge amount of their produce from China. Plus, a large number of the non-metropolitan people in China will have no problem going on a vegan diet for an extended amount of time because they're used to their vegs. I'm a 3rd (or 4th) generation immigrant (great grandpa came from China, grandpa was born here in Malaysia) and I do vegetarian diets for a couple of weeks a year due to cultural reasons. The only problem with that is how difficult and expensive it is to get on that kind of diet here. Don't get me wrong, I love mcdonalds and char siew but I don't think it will be devastating if meat isn't available to me for a while. Heck, (Beyondmeat) is 2 millennia too late as the shaolin monks has already been serving faux meat way back then
I LOVE YOU GUYS AS ALWAYS.
Sensible to take home leftovers that could last days or resurface as new improvised dishes.
两位什么时候去新疆走一走看一看，还有内蒙古大草原，云贵川等地，中国幅员辽阔每个地方都有与众不同的美。
it has been actually an etiquette to always have too much food on the table when having guests, it'd be an absolute embarrassment to have no food left behind. Which is not a good etiquette.
我觉得政府现在做的非常对，中国人浪费食物太严重了，应该这样。
Mammy used to say: "Waste not, want not"
还有历史的原因，家里人说以前穷怕了饿怕。过年家里一锅肉分好几天吃，摆在那里客人来也不舍得吃，馊掉了也会摆在那里等下一波客人热一下再摆出来，这是门面。这个很重要。我看西方的一些讲灾难战争饥荒的电影不是也有这种情节嘛。只是哪些离你们很远，离我们很近而已，这几年才脱的贫困。
Support food conservation! In china and all across the world!
Indeed, wasting is so serious in 中国 that we are losing the glorious tradition of "thrifty" of the Chinese people…
I can understand the food waste for a business meal. They just need to order a bit less. Also, no one wants to take leftovers back to the office.
It makes them look cheap. Having face is very important in China, and in a business environment.
When eating with family and friends, my family always take food home that is not eaten. Even in a Chinese wedding, where there is tons of food, the leftovers are packed in containers so that we can bring them home.
path to a overweight nation….
一般和熟人出去吃饭吃不完还是会打包
Is that a ghost city/place I see no people?
Nice bridge at the beginning
Way too much wastage everywhere
在我奶奶的年纪，她时常会担心家里没有吃的，所以就算是现在也会在家里屯非常多的食物，包括我的父亲，因为他们过去尝试过饥荒所以对饥饿这点非常的敏感，包括之前美国说要和我们打贸易战的时候他们也在家里屯了非常多的食物，直到现在我们都还没吃完，只能说不同年代的人对浪费食物的看法差距很大，五六十岁的人的话是最容易出现餐桌浪费的人群，因为他们同时体会了饥荒和饱腹状态，对饥饿的恐惧以及对现在物质满足的追求会比更老的人或年轻人更严重
There are expressions that we said before that should no longer be said now, like EAT MORE! Shut up, you are 350lbs already, stop eating. Another example: YOU CAN'T GO HOME IF YOU ARE NOT DRUNK (for party goers), well maybe it is OK in the past but now, with your fancy Lamborghini, you better not get drunk your idiot.
There are some people in the western world who would love to take every opotunity to bad mouth and attack China. Sometimes you really want to ask them what has China done to those people? After all, the West has been robbing and taken advantage of China for a few hundred years. Isn't that enough?
The food currently lost or wasted in Latin America could feed 300 million people (FAO, 2013).