# Wasted food



## debodun (Dec 16, 2017)

Yesterday I had lunch in a restaurant. As I was leaving, I walked past an empty table where another lone patron had just left. They had ordered chicken fingers and fries which were not cleaned off the table yet. It look like they had just taken a bite out of one finger (there were 3) and not eaten many fries, if any. I was irked by such waste. I just wondered if they weren't hungry, why come to a restaurant and order food?


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## applecruncher (Dec 16, 2017)

Sounds like you very closely observed what someone else left at their table. Frankly, I don't see why you would "wonder"/concern yourself with why another patron didn't clean their plate.

Maybe they got an emergency call or upsetting text msg.
Maybe they remembered they forgot to lock their back door.
Maybe they saw someone hit their car.
Maybe they suddenly felt ill.

:shrug:

Yes, there is a lot of wasted food in the world, and yes it could feed a lot of people.  But most people go to an eatery to enjoy their own meal and socialize vs.taking time to look at what others ate/left on their plate and how many bites they took then wonder about it.


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## terry123 (Dec 16, 2017)

What apple said so well!!!  I have never felt the need to notice how much people eat unless its a close family member who maybe is ill and I want to be sure they are taking care of themselves. Maybe I am just not as observant as Deb.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Dec 16, 2017)

Growing up my Mom made it very clear that food should not be wasted. I got the poor people in Europe routine whenever something was left on my plate and not to take more than I can eat. I'm definitely not a wasteful person so because of that I do tend to notice food that is wasted on plates on the way out.I don't make a study out of it but I notice. Yes, there can be many reasons why it was left but it seems to happen a lot. I also notice the amount of food people cram on their plates at a buffet when they can go back and have has much as they want. I notice that because I actually had a biscuit land in my mashed potatoes as a man walked by balancing two on top of a mountain of food he had on his plate. I think that would make anyone sit up and take notice. I'm with you on this one Deb.


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## hollydolly (Dec 16, 2017)

...when I was a kid we always got the spiel  about starving children in Biafra...I used to wish she would just give it to them then...cuz I couldn't eat  it .. Ruth I never knew any children were starving in Europe.. LOL 

I have to say I never notice what people leave on their plate but I agree I do notice when we're at one of those all you can eat places, and people are piling their food up like they're about to feed a small nation.. sheer greed!!


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## RadishRose (Dec 16, 2017)

Maybe they simply didn't like the food.


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## Smiling Jane (Dec 16, 2017)

hollydolly said:


> ...when I was a kid we always got the spiel  about starving children in Biafra...I used to wish she would just give it to them then...cuz I couldn't eat  it .. Ruth I never knew any children were starving in Europe.. LOL
> 
> I have to say I never notice what people leave on their plate but I agree I do notice when we're at one of those all you can eat places, and people are piling their food up like they're about to feed a small nation.. sheer greed!!



Our starving children were in Korea. I wonder if their location depends on geography and time constraints. Sure seems like it might.

Greed bothers me more than anything. I worked for a very successful law firm where some of the senior partners would have trampled everyone in their path when there was free food in the kitchen. I saw any number of shocking incidents there, so food greed at a buffet isn't as surprising as it might have been.

Although I probably wouldn't have noticed the person leaving food, I agree with Deb. I'm surprised they didn't ask for a doggy bag.


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## Aunt Bea (Dec 16, 2017)

I agree with you that it is not good to waste food or anything else.

If the food was edible and I was going diectly home I would have requested a doggy bag.

I agree with the others that it's best not to judge people, they may have had good reasons for not cleaning their plate.


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## RadishRose (Dec 16, 2017)

Now I'm sure they didn't like the food.


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## applecruncher (Dec 16, 2017)

Last time I was in a restaurant was 2 wks ago.  Friend and I were enjoying each other's company. I left some food on my plate simply because I was full.  Friend only drank half his iced tea - I didn't ask why and I didn't wonder about it.  As we walked out not once did I look to see what other diners had left on their plates.hwell:


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## HipGnosis (Dec 16, 2017)

My father was constantly berating people for "wasting money" on things he wouldn't buy himself.  But he didn't say it to the person that spent the money, just to us family members.  
As I aged, earned and spent my own money, I came to realize he was trying to share his values with his family.
Then, I got berated for 'wasting money' on a used 4 wheel drive, full size SUV.   I told my dad that I had worked hard and honest to earn my money, my family wasn't going without and it was up to my wife and I to decide how we spend our money.   Very similar to how no one could tell him how to spend his money.
We went camping and off-roading (mostly un-paved forest 'roads') many times in that SUV.
I don't judge others - I just think of the many or very many things I would buy before I got the things I see others buy.


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## Denise1952 (Dec 16, 2017)

debodun said:


> Yesterday I had lunch in a restaurant. As I was leaving, I walked past an empty table where another lone patron had just left. They had ordered chicken fingers and fries which were not cleaned off the table yet. It look like they had just taken a bite out of one finger (there were 3) and not eaten many fries, if any. I was irked by such waste. I just wondered if they weren't hungry, why come to a restaurant and order food?



Maybe something else was bothering you De, I can get critical, or intolerant, but it's always because I am having a bad day for one reason or another.


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## Granny B. (Dec 16, 2017)

If you think waste in a restaurant is bad, visit your local school cafeteria.  Kids are very picky and tons of food goes to waste.  I see it everyday.  It's a real shame.


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## nvtribefan (Dec 16, 2017)

Maybe you would have felt better if you had taken the uneaten food home with you.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 16, 2017)

I think there could have been a hundred different reasons that person left before finishing the meal, but Radish Rose's explanation sounds most common, they just didn't like the food.  I wouldn't worry about it being wasted, if some of the restaurant nightmare shows I've seen on cable TV are true to life, then they probably just warmed the untouched portion and served it to the next customer.


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## Denise1952 (Dec 16, 2017)

One reason I can't bring myself to eat in restaurants, almost never in fact.  I don't care for potlucks either. I do my own cooking at home.  That's just nasty to think about seabreeze


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## Camper6 (Dec 16, 2017)

Once the food is prepared it's too late to save it whether you eat it or not. Think of it.

Once I ordered chicken and when I took a bite it was raw and red. Turned me off. I didn't complain. I just left. I cook for myself and try to just make enough so that I don't have leftovers which I hate.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 16, 2017)

Denise1952 said:


> One reason I can't bring myself to eat in restaurants, almost never in fact.  I don't care for potlucks either. I do my own cooking at home.  That's just nasty to think about seabreeze



I like them less and less too over the years Denise, luckily my husband is a very good chef for many dishes, so if we want to splurge, we'll just buy the lamb, beef or seafood and make the dish at home.  Relaxing, and we know what goes in there.  I'd post some Kitchen Nightmare videos with Gordon Ramsey, but aside from his 'language', they would make the folks here feel sick.


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## RadishRose (Dec 16, 2017)

SeaBreeze said:


> I like them less and less too over the years Denise, luckily my husband is a very good chef for many dishes, so if we want to splurge, we'll just buy the lamb, beef or seafood and make the dish at home.  Relaxing, and we know what goes in there.  I'd post some Kitchen Nightmare videos with Gordon Ramsey, but aside from his 'language', they would make the folks here feel sick.



I've seen a number of those, revolting! But, I think they are scripted.


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## applecruncher (Dec 16, 2017)

In addition to Kitchen Nightmares, I've seen reports on 20/20 and our local news has a segment.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 16, 2017)

AC, our local news also has restaurant reviews and some have been rated F more than once, rodents, rodent droppings, employees not washing hands, no soap in dispensers, food held at temps too low, raw food and cooked food kept together, and the list goes on and on.  I was kidding with my husband one day that we better never see the ratings of the Mexican and Chinese restaurants we often order take out from, or they might be off our list of 'go tos'. layful:


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## Denise1952 (Dec 16, 2017)

SeaBreeze said:


> I like them less and less too over the years Denise, luckily my husband is a very good chef for many dishes, so if we want to splurge, we'll just buy the lamb, beef or seafood and make the dish at home.  Relaxing, and we know what goes in there.  I'd post some Kitchen Nightmare videos with Gordon Ramsey, but aside from his 'language', they would make the folks here feel sick.



I think I've seen some of those programs/videos Seabreeze, omg:awman:  You are sure lucky to have a husband that can cook like that, wow  I don't know any, fancy cooking at all. I've learned how to use seasonings more over the years, what goes on what etc.  I love to have something cooked for me, but I have to know the cook, LOL!  The gals in the office of my apartment building cook up a feast on both Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  It is so delicious, and they are very neat, and clean so I do indulge in those, two dinners.  And it's not potluck, they supply everything, so I am a bit spoiled I'd say

Be fun to see a picture of a feast your hubby cooks for you sometime  My highschool buddy Pam and I use an App called "marco polo" on our phones.  It makes little vids of eachother instead of like Skype. She reversed the view so I could see her cooking something and it was really fun to watch, so I did one for her next time.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 16, 2017)

I am lucky Denise, and so happy to do the clean up afterwards.  I never take pictures of our food, but if I think of it the next time, I'll take a shot and post it here.


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## jujube (Dec 16, 2017)

I love to eat out and will usually only eat half and bring the rest home for lunch the next day.  Sometimes, though, we're going to a movie or somewhere after and there's no way I'm leaving a half portion of shrimp scampi in the back seat of the car for two hours in the Florida heat.


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## HiDesertHal (Dec 20, 2017)

Whenever we dine at the Steer & Stein (weekly), we always take home a partial serving in a closed foam container and eat it the next day!

My wife has her Bacon-Wrapped Tri-Tip and takes the 2nd serving home.

I'll have my Fish & Chips or Country Fried Steak and take the Cole Slaw home.

So people are starving in foreign lands? That's too bad!


_Hut Hut Hut,_

Harold


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## HazyDavey (Dec 21, 2017)

One of my first jobs was washing dishes in a local steakhouse that also served spaghetti. It seemed to me most of the spaghetti dishes I had to wash still had a lot of spaghetti left on them. One day I tried some of their spaghetti for my lunch break. Well.. Their spaghetti was-a, not's-so-good..  :apthy:


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## Camper6 (Dec 21, 2017)

Those donut shops throw out all the donuts left at the end of the day.

There was one place that was allowing a good samaritan to come in and take them to a food bank.  He did that for a whole year.

No longer.  They have stopped the practice.


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## debodun (Jan 1, 2018)

I was just communicating with a FB friend. She said that her family ate out on New Year's eve and the server brought such large portions, it made her daughter (a 20-something) sick just to look at that big pile of food so she couldn't eat any of it. Have people just psyched themselves into eating much less these days, especially young people? Probably a leaf of lettuce and a tomato wedge would have satisfied her.


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## Buckeye (Jan 1, 2018)

When I was a kid the starving children were in China.  

Deb - I agree that wasted food is a problem.  The last number I saw (don't remember where) is that about 40% of US food is lost/wasted/uneaten after it leaves the farm.  Shameful.


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## Aunt Bea (Jan 1, 2018)

I have to admit that I've been grossed out by the restaurant trend to plate all of the food in a pile that resembles a dogs dinner.


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## Smiling Jane (Jan 1, 2018)

The solution is to take a tuna fish can and stack the food inside it. Yeah, that's much better, isn't it? Who comes up with these bright ideas?


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## RadishRose (Jan 1, 2018)

My grandson works in a higher end grocery store. People wouldn't believe the tonnage of food that grocery stores throw away.

 Leaving a fair-sized portion of spaghetti or a piece of steak on a plate in a restaurant is nothing compared to the boat loads of food wasted by the stores. Speaking of boats, ever see the tons of food spewed out into the sea by cruise ships every day?

My grandson's store won't mark down a dented can or a torn label - they would rather throw it out than project a less than high-end image.

They can't take dated items to a food-bank because -
1- the store doesn't trust that the employees might bring it home rather than deliver it.  God forbid someone might benefit.
2- that area doesn't actually have a food-bank. The nearest one is too far for lazy food bank volunteers to drive to the store.
3- people have tried to sue food banks saying they were made ill by out-dated food.


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## C'est Moi (Jan 1, 2018)

Denise1952 said:


> One reason I can't bring myself to eat in restaurants, almost never in fact.  I don't care for potlucks either. I do my own cooking at home.  That's just nasty to think about seabreeze



Ugh, potlucks.   None for me, thanks.


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