Approximately, 40 percent food prepared at different banquets is wasted when people’s rush towards food and stock up their plates with more food than they can consume, Pakistan Today has discovered.
For the wastage of food at a banquet, both hosts and guests are responsible. People (guests) take as much food in the first attempt and then are unable to eat that due to which the food goes waste. On the other hand, there is a tradition in the Indian subcontinent that a good host feeds his guests well. But this does not mean arranging for more food that is required.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), developing countries waste 40 percent food items, 1.3 billon tonnes food waste annually all over the world. Some 925 million people around the world suffer from hunger. “Given the limited availability of natural resources, it is more effective to reduce food losses than increase food production in order to feed a growing world population,” the FAQ says. The amount of food lost or wasted every year is equivalent to more than half of the world’s annual cereal crops, the FAO said in a report.
Wedding Planner Rizwan Khaliq, talking to Pakistan Today said, “I have arranged around 100 functions in the city on the host’s direction. We prepare delightful meals for the people but they do not care while eating and waste food over half a percent,” he said. Some of the food is eaten and wasted in delightful banquet parties, which is an eye opener because extra food has to be prepared to make sure every one is well fed in spite of its expected wastage.
Add to that the trend of preparing 15, 20 or even 25 dishes for a wedding and other banquets and the situation gets worst. Consequently, people love to taste everything and in that process leave most of the dishes wasted because either they do not like it or something else catches their attention. Another banquet planner Sheroz Khan said, “I do not know the psyche of the public that why they waste food at delightful feasts. I have seen people take maximum food in their first round without seeing that what will be left for the person behind. Afterwards, when they cannot consume it and they leave it without acknowledging that the food was not prepared free of cost. The food which people prepare at home is kept for the other day if they cannot eat it at once but on the other hand why they waste food of others.”
Citizen Hina said that people should make a habit to take only that food, which they can eat at once without wasting any of it. She said that if people do not waste food at weddings and parties, then 10 to 15 people, who provide service to the people, can eat it afterwards. Munawar Hussain said that people should not waste food in Ramadan and think of those who are starved and it is a tragedy that the country is facing crises but people are burning candle at both ends.
Student Umair Raza said that if one gets a chance to visit kitchens of restaurants, then one would be shocked to see the amount of food going to dustbins. He said that people protest against inflation and load shedding but on the other hand, they were themselves responsible for troubles. Citizen Zubair Aslam said that in times of soaring food prices, mismanagement and wastage of food is abundant. He said that people do not realise that if one takes extra food, then others remain starved. Aslam said that if one remained hungry he has not committed a sin but if one wasted food, then he was answerable to God.
Food wastage on the rise
