Sunday 24 February 2013

Feed the world? (Not today, I feel lazy)

Please note: This is not a directed criticism of a particular restaurant or the people that work in it!  The staff at this particular restaurant was helpful, courteous, and friendly! I am quite certain that the issue to be discussed is an issue (for me at least) in most restaurants all over the city, province, country, etc. etc.

The above picture shows French Toast prepared for Breakfast Guests at a restaurant with a view in Vancouver (The probably would call it "A View with a Restaurant"). Sunday morning must have not seen many guests, since when I arrive at 9;30 the French Toast vat seems untouched by eaters. The picture shows the French toast 5 minutes before closing (thus the clean vat on the left) and AFTER I had my French Toast.  And guess what will happen to all that French Toast?  Fellow cynics probably guessed right:  Dumpster, Landfill, garbage incinerator. But why waste all that food, you ask?  It's the easiest solution!
When I realized that the restaurant was closing and all this food was left, I asked the staff whether they had a homeless shelter pick it up or if they make use of it in any other way. The answer was NO, and the excuse provided right with it was "We can't risk that because people might have food allergies". Personally, I don't think people in homeless shelters have the luxury of taking into consideration real or hypochondriacal allergies to sea food, peanuts, lactose, or gluten (I still don't know what the latter is) and I conveyed that to the staff.  But the real problem is a different one.  The hotel staff wants to go home instead of looking for a person that will reliably pick up this food. They don't want to even consider having to wait for a shelter food person that might be late.  People providing food to homeless shelter want a reliable source of food that provides them with a fixed number of meals per day. If on a certain day the restaurant has many guests and the amount of leftovers is low, the shelter food manager would have to look for alternative sources, which again is more work. Perfectly understandable, both sides.  But!  Imagine the result. Leftovers from all of the buffets of all of North America going to the dump.

/end uninformed rant/ 
If anyone actually has any experiences on this subject (unlike me), i.e. failed attempts, additional reasons against, etc. etc., please feel free to comment. Personally I see ranting as a means to learn, which might not always be obvious ;-)

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