Not meant to be funny

[Nuala]

I recently started working at a Japanese cuisine restaurant. It's a laid-back place, my co-workers are nice, the music playing on the stereo is nice, and all I have to do is wash dishes But you know what that means? I don't get to bring out the food from the moment it's cooked, no, I deal with what the customers didn't want, and there is nothing more frustrating than seeing a pile of raw fish uneaten on a plate. If you're going to order your food, be sure to eat the whole thing. I don't care if you didn't like the taste of ginger or leek, or any ingredient in whatever you may have chosen to try.

I'll be sure to rub it in everyone's face when a food crisis hits the world. Nobody cares about the starving Africans, so I won't even bother trying to guilt you(the reader) into feeling bad that way.

 

[-Rudel-]

Welcome to the realization of America

 

[nice gaijin]

Washing dishes gives perspective to just how wasteful people are.

 

[Davey]

I try to eat all my food when I order something, because I also think it's a bad thing to leave a lot of food.

The only thing I leave are pickles, tomatoes, and other small things like that that I don't like, and did not really order.

Good luck with the job though!

 

[orochi]

>Welcome to the realization of America

I don't think the OP has anything to do with America. This happens everywhere.

 

[Clawn]

I never eat enough to have leftovers anyway. My mother always enforced the "clean your plate" rule, and so I usually make sure to eat everything set before me...like some creature with an unending hunger...

 

[SushiShin]

i never leave a single spot on my plate except some vegetables that i don't like but for the rest: oh my, i always clean my plate. its a form of respect.

i also like the perspective that Faustianideals brings forth, many africans die because they are hungry.
i always say a small pray if i'm really really full and i can't eat more.
this is a toke of gratitude to appreciate that we have the oppurtunity to eat, there is guy in africa who doesn't get foodsupplies anymore when he was 10, 365 days later he died.

 

[ArmandV]

When my mom was a kid and didn't eat everything on her plate, my grandparents would tell her, "Don't waste your food, think of the starving Armenians!" She'd respond, "Give it to them."

 

[Kumi-chanmi]

Usually if I don't finish my plate, my parents make me take it home as leftovers.

 

[JimmySeal]

I'll be sure to rub it in everyone's face when a food crisis hits the world. Nobody cares about the starving Africans, so I won't even bother trying to guilt you(the reader) into feeling bad that way.

As you shouldn't. People wasting food in America has nothing to do with starving Africans.
And I don't see how people eating all their food now, or ordering less food, would have anything to do with some future food crisis either.

But I agree that it's wrong to be wasteful. I try (and almost always succeed) to eat all of my food, and usually any food that my friends can't eat.

btw: Why is this in the humor and tests section?

 

[Nuala]

As you shouldn't. People wasting food in America has nothing to do with starving Africans.
And I don't see how people eating all their food now, or ordering less food, would have anything to do with some future food crisis either.

But I agree that it's wrong to be wasteful. I try (and almost always succeed) to eat all of my food, and usually any food that my friends can't eat.

btw: Why is this in the humor and tests section?

Because I don't think I have ever posted in this forum?

 

[MadamePapillon]

I've heard that Americans waste 25% of all they produce, not sure if that's entirely true but it does seem pretty likely.

How about we ship 25% of the food to Africa and just eat smaller portions, kill two birds with one stone

 

[JimmySeal]

Who's going to pay to ship it there, and why isn't Africa producing its own food?

Because I don't think I have ever posted in this forum?

Huh???

 

[Mars Man]

Oh but for the toil, the lowly pleasures of wrinkled hands, the ever present humidity of being at the vessel sanitation station--to make it sound nice. (even the busboys have it better in 'working conditions')

I have been there and I know the scene. (I was always in Mexican food, so it may have been even worse--due to, possibly, volume differences.) There is really nothing that can be done about it...in the most practical sense; as the song said, " That's just the way it is; some things will never change..."

It is a big, crying shame, however, that that IS the way it is. It happens here in Japan too...because I have been in the food industry here too. (I worked from busboy to dishwasher, to prep-cook, to station cook, to line manager, to kitchen manager while in the states, and came here in that position {food industry-wise})

Even when the little lady worked at a major local supermarket chain, in the fresh produce area, they threw away a lot of vegies because they could no longer be sold--or so they thought. A little scratch or a bad spot, or being just past some 'magic' date, made them suddenly 'unsalable.'

Well. . . I'm not sure why. . . it wasn't until around post #10 that no mention had been made of this thread's placement. Even Dutch Baka san has posted here, and yet the thread still has remained in this (as of Sep. 7; 12:36 my time) sub-fora--which is obviously the wrong place for it.

I could reason that Dutch didn't see need to move it, and so, being lesser in authority, I don't need to. . . but my little heart says that isn't so fair, 'caus'n we done got on to some for the likes of such...even though them other folks were just kind of trouble-makers, and the OP is not.

So, I think I will go ahead and move this down stairs...maybe making it even easier to get to. I hope I have the understanding of you good folk !!

 

[Nuala]

I'm not a trouble-maker?

 

[Mars Man]

I'm not a trouble-maker?

No, I'm afraid not. (at least as far as I know of !! hee, hee, hee...)

But hey...keep those plates clean, and the station orderly there !! Don't let the others see you slip a couple of good, untouched sushi slices down the ole hatch !!

(off topic, but I will never forget one guy we had hired. He came in on a Saturday night, it got very, very busy...and in the midst of the battle, he suddenly threw off his apron, said F...this, and walked out the door. Boy what a night!! )

I think the food industry itself--running hand in hand with consumerism (sp?)--is carries a big percentage of the blame in food waste.

 

[GodEmperorLeto]

:He came in on a Saturday night, it got very, very busy...and in the midst of the battle, he suddenly threw off his apron, said F...this, and walked out the door. Boy what a night!!

Man, that brings back some memories of high school jobs I had. Although nothing beat being a short-order cook making cheesesteaks. The cleanup afterwards was ultra-sanitary. Bleach makes your hands white. Really, really white. But it kills germs!

in the midst of the battle

Yes. To everybody who has never worked in the food service industry, believe me, it can be like Operation Overlord, the Tet Offensive, and a Viking invasion are simultaneously going on in the kitchen.

i also like the perspective that Faustianideals brings forth, many africans die because they are hungry.

The U.S. government subsidizes it's farmers NOT to grow food, because we grow too much. We could sell it to Africa, but it would be at such a loss, we may as well give it away to them for free. I don't know why we don't besides corporate greed, bureaucratic red tape, and porkbarreling.

Who's going to pay to ship it there, and why isn't Africa producing its own food?

Africa is a continent that's been thrust into the modern era technologically, while culturally they are, at best, in the 10th century AD. This isn't to demean them, this is to say that life in the 10th century was nasty, brutish and short. It's only exacterbated because, instead of using broadswords, people are using AK-47s, which are much better at massacring villagers and seizing strategic resources (like food), be it in medieval France or modern Sierra Leone.

Faustianideals, you seem like you can hang in there with your dishwashing. If I ever get around to opening this Philly cheesesteak shop in Amemura, Osaka, I'll give you a job there washing dishes. Especially since I can get away with charging 900 yen for a 6" sandwich there, I'll pay you a decent wage. Deal?

 

[Mars Man]

A'ha !! So I can see you also have rank in the troupe !! I guess you would also have your battle scars, such as I do. (things can happen when you're using the 'steel' to better the edge of the 12-inch chef's knife while watching for the cut-off point for the egg beater and talking to your mate at the same time.)

I don't know why we don't besides corporate greed, bureaucratic red tape, and porkbarreling.

Yes, I think this also has much to do with it. Another point that I would tend to stress, is simply the fact that there are those boarders, divisions, in-groups, and out-groups in the world. When, if it were to ever happen, it would not be the USA, Sudan, Laos, China, Iran, and so on, but us, as a single world body only carrying geo-cultural names for our particular area. (where's Robin Hood when you need him?)

And, one more thing I have thought of, which is not as manmade as the former, and is a bit harder to control, even, is water supply. As weather patterns shift and warm in most places (as it seems they will do according to many papers presented in Science and Scientific American) water is gonna be even harder to get for some. This, in turn, will surely affect food supplies as farming becomes impractical for some.

Anyway, waste not, want not is always good to keep in mind. MM

 

[Sarapva]

I've heard that some restaurants and grocery stores have an agreement with the Food Bank, for instance, about giving food that hasn't been used. But scraps of food left over on a plate is different. At the very least, couldn't that be given to pets or other animals?

 

[Elizabeth]

The U.S. government subsidizes it's farmers NOT to grow food, because we grow too much. We could sell it to Africa, but it would be at such a loss, we may as well give it away to them for free. I don't know why we don't besides corporate greed, bureaucratic red tape, and porkbarreling.

US government buys it from agribusiness, donates to international charities to sell at a loss and often end up depressing prices for local farmers in the areas they're trying to help. Which works for domestic farmers and aid organizations, less clearly benefiting African development. Giving it away, except in cases of dire food emergencies, would be a complete catastrophe for regional markets so I understand why that isn't good stewardship.


http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/14/news/food.php

 

[Nuala]

Faustianideals, you seem like you can hang in there with your dishwashing. If I ever get around to opening this Philly cheesesteak shop in Amemura, Osaka, I'll give you a job there washing dishes. Especially since I can get away with charging 900 yen for a 6" sandwich there, I'll pay you a decent wage. Deal?

Thanks for the generous offer, but I'll have to pass. It's only a part-time job for me.

 

[Mars Man]

It's a very complicated thing, indeed !! The way I see it is, the planet is just this one planet (so far) and the natural resources and natural potentials are set as they are set--not too much can be done about that. (some can, and is, of course, but not enough to counter nature)

If, in one area on the globe, circumstances are so that food can abundantly be grown, but it is not--due to national interests and economic factors at large (and this would include depressing any agricultural industry's income potential in another region by sending in free produce) it is really the whole of humanity that is taking the loss.

Could not the produce that the naturally more productive land can produce, be given to the agricultural industry of the area where land cannot so well produce--say sub-Sahara--so as stabilize the demand and supply while not causing the local farmers to lose out? Farmers without boarders !

Of course that would entail somewhat of a Robin Hood effect, and so those of the more affluent areas, would have to be willing to accept a possible drop in affuent lifestyle to a small degree.

I like your idea about how to handle unsalable produce and food products from grocery stores, Sarapav san. Unfortunately here, they haven't gotten that into their heads--at least in this area. The store has a rule against workers taking such home--it MUST be thrown in the garbage. (Now, this could be only that chain--though it's a major chain in Nagano prefecture --and it is true that it had come about due to some employees taking advantage of some earlier arrangements, but still...)

 

[Sarapva]

Yes, Mars Man - I've heard of similar frustrating rules where what seems to be the logical thing isn't done (like having to throw the food in the garbage). I like your idea about more affluent places sending what can't be used to a place that really needs it. That's another logical thing that reasonable-minded people would think ought to be done! It's the corporate rules that stop these things from happening, I think. I for one would certainly agree to having less so that things could be distributed more evenly across the globe, and I think there are millions more who would do the same. Maybe that will have to happen eventually.