HEFEI, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- There is
nothing more delectable than indulging herself with a chili hotpot
during the chilly winter for Li Xiao. As China blazes ahead with "Clean
Your Plate" campaigns to curb food waste, single-serving hotpots on
take-out e-platforms just caught the epicure by surprise. "Hotpot
boasts a variety of content and nutrition, however, only those with big
appetites can finish the dish down to the last morsel. There's often a
trade-off between food variety and thriftiness for me," grumbled Li, who
lives alone in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. Now,
the debut of hotpots for one serving breaks away from the pack, with
small portions of each ingredient and well-balanced menus on offer. "Now
I can have it both ways: enjoying the food diversity and savoring a
mouthful of each kind without feeling guilty about wasting any," Li
said. Half-portion dishes brought
along not only more choices but also an economical scale-down of price.
"Smaller portions of food satisfy a foodie's craving for a working lunch
and staycation after a long day's grind," said the 26-year-old office
lady. Amid the country's efforts to
fight food waste, Chinese regulators have banned binge-eating
livestreamers and called on consumers to order on-demand and pack their
leftovers. Roughly one-third of food
produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which
amounts to about 1.3 billion tonnes per year, according to a UN Food and
Agriculture Organization report. In
China, about 17 million tonnes of food was estimated to be frittered
away on the dining tables of restaurants in the cities each year, enough
to feed some 30 million to 50 million people. The
country's ravenous eaters have also become aware of the pressing glut
resulting from their excessive eating. According to a survey conducted
on food waste in China's chain catering industry between 2019 and 2020,
more than 60 percent of its respondents have faith in the catering
industry to shoulder more responsibilities in abstaining from excess. Nearly
90 percent of the surveyed eateries responded with a proactive
attitude, willing to cut down food waste through technologies and other
methods. Online takeaway platforms
have been among the first to take action. Smaller portions of dishes,
specified descriptions of serving sizes on menus, as well as set
meals-for-one have received warm welcome among the eaters. From
August to September this year, orders of dishes with smaller
proportions rose by 18.5 percent compared with the previous two months.
In September alone, orders for smaller take-out meals surged by 69
percent year on year, according to China's leading food delivery
platform Meituan. Chengdu,
Guangzhou, Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai were the top five cities where
residents placed the largest number of orders for small portions, said
the platform. Restaurants have named
themselves using phrases such as "small dishes" and "small
proportions," while leading industry brands also moved to approach "Zero
Waste," or as little waste as possible. In
October, Meituan teamed up with hundreds of catering brands, ranging
from bakeries to food outlets of different local flavors, to offer "Zero
Waste" set menus with optimized design. For example, cream cheese bread
is now sold in sizes for one bite at a time. "Technical
efforts by the food delivery industry matter a lot and reap a lot as
well. In the meanwhile, the whole society needs to change their
attitudes and ditch entrenched habits like going in for pomp," said Wang
Yunfei, an associate professor of social and political science with
Anhui University. "To reduce food
loss and waste, and to make frugal diet habits back in vogue, are no
longer optional but obligatory for the whole society," Wang said.
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