Leftover Food on the Plate

In the picture, several plates have been left behind on a food court table. Each one still has a large portion of rice and vegetables on it, and only part of the meat appears to have been eaten. There are used chopsticks and crumpled tissue paper on the table as well. What I also noticed is that the vegetables are almost completely untouched, which suggests the people simply did not want them rather than being too full.

This reminds me of a time at a buffet during my uncle's birthday celebration. I was very hungry and I took a large plate with fried chicken, noodles and prawns all at once, but after eating half of it I felt too full to finish. My mother was not pleased and told me to sit and finish what I could. I did manage most of it, but I learnt to take smaller portions and go back again if I still want more.

I feel there are a few ways. Firstly, we can order or take smaller portions, because it is always possible to add more but impossible to un-order. Secondly, hawkers and restaurants could offer smaller sizes at lower prices, which would help those with smaller appetites. Most importantly, I feel we should remember that Singapore imports over ninety per cent of our food, so every plate thrown away has been shipped a long way to reach us. That makes wasting it far harder to justify.