The big fat Indian wedding is something that is often remarked upon. A wedding is one thing that people feel compelled to spend on – very often it is money they can ill-afford. Some people incur crippling debt for what essentially is one big party lasting over several days. And then there is the fact of the food wasted --- in a country like India, the kind of wastage seen at weddings is nothing short of obscene. This post by IAS officer Awanish Sharan suggests as much:
This is an image that should dismay us all – there is a mound of food waste and a human being having to clean it all up.
People tend to do this at weddings; particularly buffets. There is the sense that if one is not paying for something it is OK to load one’s plate even if a lot of it will go to waste. On the other hand even a cheap snack will be polished off if paid for.
Some feel that this is not a waste, that discarded food feeds homeless animals. This of course completely misses the fact that many animals will not eat the sort of cooked food humans eat, which will result in rotting, stinking garbage. This also encourages animal menace – aggressive cattle, dogs and other abandoned animals.
Food wasted at weddings may not have a direct impact on poverty in the nation, but there is an indirect impact. Higher demand drives up prices, making food inaccessible and unaffordable for more people. That is why food wasted in a country like India seems particularly unseemly.
In the Parsi community, when a wedding invite is sent, it carries a reply card. On that, the guest will indicate whether they would be attending the function, how many, and very importantly, whether veg or non-veg. This means that there is a pretty accurate number to cater for.
It is always a good idea to make sure that surplus food finds its way to the hungry. There are NGOs that work and coordinate to make this happen.
This volunteer-based organisation joined the conversation to inform people about how to get surplus food from restaurants and other places to the needy. However, this doesn’t solve the problem of the food people leave on their plates; having served themselves more than they can eat.
This seems to be a sign put up by/at Tata Consultancy Services and looks like a good idea. It is a reminder to people not to serve themselves more than they can eat and to inform them of the number of hungry that could be fed instead. I wonder what would happen if fines were imposed on the plates that waste the most – maybe that is an idea that would work?
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
